Theatre / Reviews
Review: Buffy Revamped, Bristol Old Vic – ‘Brendan Murphy displays an incredible talent for storytelling’
Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, rejoice! For it has been revamped, in an arguably much more entertaining, and less time-consuming, way.
Created by comedian Brendan Murphy, Buffy Revamped is a high-octane, one-man, assault on all the senses that brings audiences 114 episodes of the popular 90s TV show with the blonde, stake-wielding teenager, as told by the most jaded character of them all – the vampire, villain, anti-hero and love interest, Spike.
The show won Best One Person Show and Best Comedy Performance at the DarkChat Awards, and was the Best Reviewed Comedy Show of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023.
Brendan Murphy as Willow in Buffy Revamped
Full disclosure, I haven’t watched many episodes of the show, which aired from 1997 to 2001 across seven series, but that really didn’t matter. Because whether you went to Sunnydale High or not, this show is 70 minutes of pure entertainment.
Proclaiming “once more with feeling” during a musical number was a nice nod to the only episode I really know about. But the show still enjoys a demonstrably cult status; the crowd on this chilly Thursday night at Bristol Old Vic full of fans wearing nostalgic memorabilia – be it hoodies, t-shirts, or fancy dress.
Brendan Murphy as Buffy
Mixing a heady combination of slapstick, stand-up comedy, breaking the fourth wall, musical theatre (he really can sing), audience participation, and panto, with well-used props and effective sound effects, this whirlwind production is bursting with 90s pop culture references, which went down well with the predominantly millennial audience.
Between calling Xander an incel, playing Drucilla with huge googly eyes and her “ill advised Jamaican accent”, and reducing his arch nemesis Angel to a mere leather jacket, the audience was in stitches.
Brendan Murphy as Xander
But Murphy also managed to inject an element of subdued emotion at more ‘serious’ moments like the death of Joyce, and the controversial and incredibly unpopular sexual assault plot line – which he handled with a comic delicacy.
I can’t remember more than a minute when the audience wasn’t reacting to Murphy energetically and perfectly switching from one character to the next, displaying an incredible talent for storytelling – and he received a well-deserved standing ovation at the end.
Buffy Revamped is at Bristol Old Vic on February 5-7 at 7.30pm, and on February 8 at 5pm and 8pm. Tickets are available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk.
All photos: Steve Ullathorne/Seabright Productions
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
