There is a link between The Habits, nearing the end of its run in Hampstead’s studio Downstairs, which follows a Dungeons and Dragons game, and this new play in the main house which features vampires.
In Apex Predator, IT ace Joe (Bryan Dick), who is involved in a hush-hush police investigation after bodies have been discovered drained of blood and some with their heads missing, declares the suspects are not real vampires but role-playing, like D and D gamers. To me, the blood and the characters’ mysterious powers seem much more real.
No doubt you can read your own allegory here: the way we exploit relationships or drain the environment of its lifeblood, but with its gory mouths and pointing fingers, there’s a neat horror story, though the strongest drama comes from the combination of Christopher Shutt’s sound design, Jack Knowles's lighting and the movement of Tom Piper’s set, while Blanche McIntyre’s direction gives the horrors extra edge by emphasising the domesticity of the setting.
At its centre is Joe’s wife Mia, played by Sophie Melville, a stressed mum suffering from postpartum depression, painfully still trying to breastfeed baby Isla and protect twelve-year-old son Alfie. There is something strange about mask-wearing Alfie; was he really responsible for the death of his class’s pet gerbil or is he just being bullied? Sorting that out leads to meeting his new art teacher, Ana (Laura Whitmore), and that…. Would be a spoiler, but it is gruesome. Leander Denny’s wealthy Victor thinks the lades he has picked up are game for some hanky-panky, but he isn’t the only one to get a shock.
From when we first see her, on the Underground arguing with a man too loud on his mobile or confronting the noisy neighbour upstairs, Sophie Melville embodies Mia’s anxieties, while Laura Whitmore presents an Ana whose seeming friendly empathy masks cool control. But, though their relationship comes over strongly, their delivery lacks clarity. Hampstead Theatre can be acoustically challenging, and perhaps the scaffolded space around the set doesn’t help (and I hate to think how much its hire must have cost). This wasn’t just a case of old ears; a strong reaction from a couple of places in the audience when the majority made none suggests I was not the only one missing things.
Apex Predator presents some intriguing ideas. Are humans destroying themselves along with their environment? Will vampires be left with no human blood to sustain their life at the top of the food chain? But it is its believable picture of harassed motherhood that draws you into its vampirical story.