Interview with Alexander Knott

In this interview, I had the great pleasure of doing an interview with Alexander Knott about the upcoming production ‘The Highgate Vampire’. He shared insights into what audiences can expect from this show, as well as the inspiration and hard work behind bringing this show to life.

What first drew you to the true events surrounding the Highgate Vampire and why was now the right story?

This is all the doing of my co-writer, co-star and frequent collaborator James Demaine. Ryan Hutton (our director) and I started Bag of Beard in the third year of our drama school training and since then we’ve been collaboratively making theatre almost constantly. James loves the gothic, that old romantic gothic horror of Dracula, Byron and folk tales, myths and legends. Personally I can’t get enough of Jez Butterworth and that kind of modern fairy tale mixed with a grubby, potent drama, and so when James told me the story of the real life Priest and Tobacconist that we fictionalise in our play, both setting out to destroy the notorious Highgate Vampire in 1970s London, I knew it was perfect material. The story itself is totally outrageous, completely unbelievable and sometimes disturbing. It is also very funny. All of our company love a dark comedy, so we knew that this absurd gothic narrative would fit our style, and in the midst of such bleak times a true tale with an outrageous spin is our idea of a great night out!

How did you approach adapting a real historical media frenzy into a theatrical narrative?

As James always says, we left some of the more insane elements out! They were just too unbelievable. For example, there was an incident where the Priest claimed the Vampire transformed into a giant spider and fled into an abandoned house, which was subsequently burned down as hundreds of amateur demon slayers descended on Highgate Cemetery! Fantastic stuff, but completely bloody ridiculous. I have heard this case described recently as “one of the greatest examples of good old fashioned British idiocy” – is it really so hard to imagine that a media frenzy could whip up amateur Vampire hunters nowadays? Who’s to say? We live in very, very strange times. But we have it on good authority, from people who were there, that our play is pretty near the mark of what happened. It’s bizarre and we hope hilarious, but has a dollop of the truth in there. We walk a rickety tightrope between the truth (in inverted commas!) and our own imaginations. We planned it all out, started improvising, and kept running back to the laptop to type it out.

The show is framed as a scientific lecture on vampire hunting. What inspired this device, and how does it shape the audience’s relationship with the story?

I think one of the initial impulses was the notion that these two men – Bishop Patrick Sheffield and demon hunter Daniel Farringdon, in our play – had put aside their differences for one night only, where their society of mystics and occultists have gathered to hear them tell their story of destroying the Vampire (the society is played by YOU, the audience). But the thing is, the Bishop has locked the other fella in the dressing room toilet and tries to do the lecture on his own. From that gag, the rest of the play took shape. It begins as an ‘academic’ lecture, but slides and slides into the ridiculous, as Farringdon has brought a bag of props with him, until we end up in the middle of a play. The audience are part of it throughout (don’t worry, there’s not much panto-esque interaction) and we’re always referring to them as our “guests”, our “esteemed colleagues”. It’s a little bit immersive in that respect, in that the play is happening NOW, on the night the audience is watching, you are a part of it.

The production draws influence from The Mighty Boosh, Matt Berry and Monty Python. How did those references inform the tone without overwhelming the originality of the piece?

We were lucky enough to work with playwriting giant Simon Stephens a little bit when we produced the first revival of his ‘Nuclear War’ with BoxLess Theatre in 2020, and he came down and did a Q&A. One of his big pieces of advice is “read like a thief” and I have taken that firmly to heart. I’m a bit of a believer in the idea that there’s nothing new under the sun, but what there IS is well-executed homage and lots of wonderful FUSIONS of ideas. So if you’re a fan of the Boosh, Python or Toast of London, there’s plenty in our show that you might find pleasing! No total rip offs, of course, that’d be a step too far, but in some ways our play might feel a bit cosy and familiar. That’s when we try and send a shiver down the spine or make you jump a little bit. It’s got a lot of cult classics in its DNA, possibly the mighty ‘Withnail and I’ most of all, in the relationship between the central characters.

Comedy and gothic horror sit side by side in this show. What challenges did you face in maintaining that balance, particularly when dealing with darker subject matter?

I think over the course of our development of the play, there have been different attitudes to comedy and horror. I think Ryan directs from a place of wanting a certain level of emotional truth and believability, which  makes the performances more realistic and land in a human way. Whereas James is always keen to enhance the spookiness and the creepiness, and the atmosphere (enhanced by Samuel Heron’s deliciously dark, and sometimes pleasingly camp 1970s sound design and music). For me, I am all for a combination of those things but I also like the silliness and often say that this play is a bit like a cartoon come to life - so we hope it’s a beautiful fusion of all of those things and ideally we find a balance between all of them and I think that is part of what gives this play it’s unique flavour.

What surprised you most during the development of the piece?

Possibly how much we were validated in how true we were told our story was! As I said, we did our research and we felt like we did our due diligence - and we certainly did as much as possible to fictionalise any potentially legally actionable elements! And this included changing a few of the key events, however we have had family members of people involved who echoed our own catchphrase back to us in the bar afterwards, which is “more of this is true than we would like”. So you won’t be getting a history lesson if you come to the Cockpit Theatre but you will walk away knowing more about the Highgate Vampire perhaps then you did on the way in. And that family member, by the way, thoroughly enjoyed the play! We’ve had hippies, shaman and demon hunters among our audiences, and we hope we made them laugh!

Following its run at The Glitch and Omnibus Theatre, the show now transfers to The Cockpit as the inaugural Stephen Joseph Transfer. What does this opportunity mean to you?

Bag of Beard are over the moon to be chosen for the very first Stephen Joseph Transfer! The Highgate Vampire was our first-ever venture into theatre in the round, and at the start we genuinely couldn’t wrap our heads around how a show that’s meant to be a lecture could possibly work with the audience on all sides. We had never imagined it in the round until we tried it, we always thought it would be end on. But through rehearsals, we came to the point where we couldn’t imagine it any other way. We’re absolutely buzzing to be taking the show to The Cockpit. What an opportunity!

How would you describe the show in three words?

Vampires Among Us.

Bag of Beard Theatre are known for stripped-back storytelling and collaborative writing. How does The Highgate Vampire reflect or expand upon that company identity?

I’m always banging on about the idea of theatrical minimalism to anyone who will listen, how fringe theatre (independent theatre) doesn’t have to mean “lesser than”, and how you can create theatre that is full of purpose, well crafted, well written, engaging for the audience and hugely dynamic without a lot of expensive and cumbersome set in the way, and this really embraces that. In the “in the round” version, the play is Sheffield and Farringdon facing off with a battered old wooden trunk in the centre of the stage, from which all our props come. With lighting, sound and original music, we tell the whole tale. Professionally, I do enjoy really well executed, highly symbolic set design but I also love that simplicity and starkness that lets a play absolutely speak for itself, so in this production I think we’ve got one of our most stripped back shows yet!

How has audience and critical response shaped the evolution of the piece during its development?

We were very lucky that the audiences at The Glitch gave us a big boost in that we were so close to them and the whole atmosphere was so intimate. It really paved the way for what came next, where at the Omnibus in a larger, raked seating auditorium, we felt a little like we were projecting into a small abyss. But in both venues, the crowds were very enthusiastic. We experimented with adding and subtracting jokes, always trying new things, and now I think the whole company is really pleased to be going back into the round, in an even larger venue. Best of both worlds, perhaps. Both The Glitch and the Omnibus are wonderful, community-centric theatre spaces and The Glitch is doing the heavy lifting of representing the legacy of VAULT Festival - I urge people to support these kind of independent theatres, they are vital for artists.

What do you hope audiences take away from The Highgate Vampire?

A tale perhaps they hadn’t heard before, the sensation of having had a laugh, and a tingle of wintery spookiness for the walk home. Any combination of those, and its job done for Bag of Beard, I reckon.

The Highgate Vampire will be performing at The Cockpit from 28th January to 1st February 2026. For tickets and information please visit: https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/the_highgate_vampire