BUFFY RE:VAMPED~ Adelaide Fringe 2023 Review

[Comedy/Sci-fi ~ AUSTRANIAL PREMIERE ~ UK] The Box, The Garden Of Unearthly Delights, The 16 Mar, 2023 My only regret with this show was not seeing it sooner in the run. Partly because I’d absolutely see it again, and partly because I could have told you about it before now. Anyway, we are here now. Buffy: ReVamped is a one man show that takes you through all 144 episodes of all seven seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer at a breakneck, hilarious pace in just seventy minutes. All delivered with great skill and extremely funny material by Brendan Murphy. Mainly presenting as Spike the Billy Idol-ish bad vamp (introduced in season two), he also becomes, Xander, Gilles, Joyce, Tara, Cordelia, Oz, and a myriad of Sunnydale characters including the Slayer herself. With simple props and costumes, the transitions are fast and comedic with Brendan inhabiting each character wit a great deal of knowledge of the series, knowing fan stand points on various characters and memes. When Riley turns up (Buffy’s dopey but hunky boyfriend in a later season) the room erupts with the shared knowledge that Riley was essentially the Jar Jar Binks of the Buffyverse, and we all know it*. Referencing Angel and Cordelia leaving to start the spin off series Angel he refers to it as them ‘going to do LA Law. Given there has been a taint left on the shows good name by the behaviour of it’s creator, this romp makes you remember all that was good and marvellous about BTVS, as well all that was straight up WTF about it too. Murphy’s energetic performance, amusing audience work and excellent use of props, musical parodies and simple but effective stage effects make Buffy ReVamped a fast paced and amazing ride for any and all Buffy fans. * To be fair when Riley turned back up very briefly in a late episode there was some redemption and he turned out okay. Ian Bell #ClotheslineMag #ADLFringe