Other Mysteries Theatre return to Camden Fringe with The Graveyard Snack at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre
“I am your host, always and forever. And ever.”
I was a big fan of Other Mysteries Theatre’s 2022 Camden Fringe show The Midnight Snack, even if I wasn’t mad keen on their choice of pull-quote (my fault for using the word fricking!). For 2024, they’re back with The Graveyard Snack, at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre once again, adapting another series of their podcast for the stage, unconnected to the first but very much sharing its comic DNA.
Sadly leaving the world of competitive baking behind, this time around we’re tuning into Radio 666, the afterlife’s premier (and only) radio station with its legendary host Iris Osiris. She’s been on the job for millennia and is feeling it a bit, as she deals with crank callers, throws to the weather and plays endless ads. The last thing she’s expecting is news of a murder, not least because everyone in the afterlife is meant to be dead….
This time around, the transition from podcast audio to staged theatre lands a little awkwardly. Even with adding a fourth cast member into the multi-roling mix, there’s still a reliance on recorded voices for at least two major characters. And whilst the recurring episodic nature nods to endless circles of hell, dramatically it cleaves too close to being repetitious without having enough humour to truly justify it.
Elsewhere, the breadth of the multi-roling does offer up some hilarious moments – James Lyon’s Gaslighter and Mansplainer hit their mark perfectly and Caylyn Sheldon’s bored-out-of-her-skull Head of HR is vocal perfection. Mackenzie Larsen’s Iris and Jonah Walsh’s Eleos as the presenters turned investigators do well but with less freedom, there’s not quite the playfulness this company can bring.
