After a very successful Ms Christmas Bachelorette last year, PopRox are back with another dating extravaganza but this time it’s Halloween themed and it’s Bachelor Frankenstein’s time to shine!

The idea is a tried and true one for dating television: one bachelor and 5 (a lot less than the usual 24) eager suitors vying for his love.

The Hannah stage is looking incredible and sets the spooky vibes with a giant spider web spanning an entire wall, a giant gravestone and a skull-adorned keyboard being the highlights. There is a Jack-o-Lantern bucket to fill with crowd suggestions of ‘a gift for Frankenstein’ and ‘a special talent’.

The lights go out and Meatloafs’ ‘You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth’ starts playing its dramatic opening monologue. We can see someone is entering the stage as the lights flash on and off them briefly. Is it a wolf, like the monologue implies?

Finally the lights stay on and it is not a wolf but rather a Devil played by a topless and painted red Dylan Hutton. Hutton treats us all to a sexy dance number as Meatloaf continues, his horns fall off but that’s no issue as he improvises and makes them sexy nipple accessories! The crowd is roaring with laughter already: a great start!

Hutton introduces himself as Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer or affectionately Lucy. He is our host for the evening. Next to be introduced is our keyboardist for the night, Lia Kelly, dressed as The Phantom.

It’s time to meet the star of the show, our bachelor Frank (Mo Munn) and find out what he is looking for in his next spouse. With audience help we discover it is someone sexy who can knit!

Out comes our first contestant, a Yummy Mummy played by an all bandaged up Nina Hogg. Her secret talent is her very big boobs which she happily tells Frank about as she hugs him. She is over 4000 years old, but she still looks banging!

Contestant number 2 is Jed Davies as Dracula, who is charming and has brought Frank a sewing kit as a gift, offending our dear bachelor who makes it clear that sewing is not the same as knitting.

From Forks is cult favourite contestant number 3, the glittery Edward Cullen from Twilight, portrayed absolutely brilliantly by Austin Harrison. There are clever quips about his ex, Bella, and Frank loves his coat.

Now we have what looks like a normal human woman named Wilma (Millie Osborne) as contestant 4, until she sees Frank, is overwhelmed with desire and suddenly turns into a werewolf, much to Frank’s relief as he didn’t want an ordinary human. Wilma declares she is aroused and Frank reveals he is too, before Osborne performs a handstand as her secret talent, allowing Frank to touch her to help her stay up.

If you are paying attention to the contestants in the background, here is where you will see Hogg’s Mummy scoffing and mocking Wilma, not for the last time either. It is very easy to be focused on Hogg as she never breaks character, even when in the background.

Last but certainly not least we have contestant number 5, Aragog the spider from Harry Potter, played by Lesa MacLeod-Whiting, who has managed to actually have 8 eyes and legs. MacLeod-Whiting delivers one of my favourite lines of the night here when she says, “We are definitely here to fuck spiders tonight.” Her gift for Frank is a poem about weed and it is beautiful, especially the lines, “Ooby dooby doo, do you like a scooby dooby doo.”

Munn has been amazing so far, her skills in improv have been evident as she rolls with whatever the contestants have thrown at her, and also the flirting from Hutton’s Lucy.

Now that we are familiar with everyone, Frank chooses Wilma to get a rose which means she is safe from elimination and we head into the next segment, ‘Behind the gravestone’.

The giant gravestone is put at the front of the stage and Frank is on one side while the 4 contestants who don’t have a rose are on the other side: a classic love show trope. This segment is the classic ‘location, style, activity’ scene where a member of the audience takes Frank outside and he will have to guess what the audience has picked for each contestant by asking questions. Since there are 4 people, they have been assigned an idea for a date, activity, location, transportation and class. These are tandem biking, botanical gardens, e-scooter, and an Italian leather working class.

Frank re-enters and hilarity ensues as he is given answers such as “Wearing lycra and being guided by a bald bearded man”, “A place that smells of snot or lovely things”, “Wind in your hair and the wafting smells of coffee and err, other things”, and “A taste of skin you can’t hide from”.

The last one to be correctly answered is Edward’s tandem biking activity and it’s because of Harrison’s punny answer of, “Get out your legs so you can tan dem” which gets a justified hearty crowd laugh. Frank picks Ed for the date and off they go on their tandem bike ride to the Chocolate Fish Cafe (topical and gets awws from the audience). Harrison asks a bald, bearded front row person to be their guide as a callback to his earlier date description but they politely decline and the show goes on.

Lucy reappears at the end of their date and announces it is time for the Monster Mash, which is a play on the cocktail party from The Bachelor TV show. The ‘Monster Mash’ song plays and Frank sits on a bench, side of stage, having one on one time with each contestant.

Though they have all been brilliant separately up until now, this is where the cast get to showcase their improv skills together as they have one contestant with Frank and the others conversing on the other side of the stage. Bouncing off each other and using what someone has said in the group to lead their conversations with Frank is a great scene.

Time for the dead rose ceremony where there is a tray of dead roses and only 3 roses left for the 4 contestants (not literally, there are more in the tray but these are Lucy’s he declares). Someone has to go and unfortunately it is the yummy mummy who leaves, but not before she slaps Frank in the face and storms off!

After an intermission, we return to Frank and Lucy chatting about how things have been going and Frank is looking for deeper connections and more knitting and sexy related content, and it is time for 4 dates in around 4 minutes all suggested by the crowd.

Wilma takes Frank skydiving to bond, once again wolfing out at Frank’s sexiness. Dracula and Frank go to donate blood which Dracula is worried about for obvious reasons. Aragog is taking Frank to see Transformers 2. And Edward is going on a hike with Frank to discuss climate change.

The dates are hilarious but making climate change funny is no challenge for Harrison and Edward’s eco warrior spiel is the best.

Another monster mash and we learn that Dracula killed some people in the blood bank – but who hasn’t, says Frank to comfort him, as well as stealing some bags for him and Edward. Edward is handing out flyers to recruit more eco warriors, Aragog is highlighting to Frank what 8 legs can do, and now Wilma and Edward are fighting over how a wolf stole his ex in a Twilight-fuelled argument.

Time for another dead rose ceremony and Dracula and Wilma are safe! Hutton delivers a brilliant quote here with, “Two roses left for contestants from two different Robert Pattinson franchises” (Harry Potter and Twilight) and the audience’s laughter is halted by the reveal that Edward is eliminated for being too much of an eco warrior. Now we all say “Awwwww”. We are soon laughing again, though, with Harrison’s parting words being, “I’d have bet all my money on Frankenstein picking green.”

If you saw Ms Christmas Bachelor then you will know about the jacuzzi of accusations or ‘jaccusations’ that is an inflatable pool filled with minimal water. All the contestants, eliminated or not, make accusations against each other. The audience decides guilty or not and then the guilty party gets a martini glass of water chucked on them. Mummy accuses Frank of letting her go too soon and gets to throw the water at him, Aragog is angry that Edward doesn’t live in the forest like them but tries to recruit them as an eco warrior, but is deemed guilty for being a predator, and Dracula is pissed off at Lucy for having to be in water when it burns his flesh! Fed up with the show Dracula leaves the show for good!

Watching Harrsion and MacLeod-Whiting try to get the pool out of the theatre without spilling water is not part of the show but is still damn funny.

The Phantom takes off their mask, to reveal another one! shock! horror! and a Shrek joke about layers and onions is made by Hutton.

The eagerly awaited home visits are up next where we are taken to Aragog’s forbidden forest (NOT a euphemism) and Wilma’s bushes in Mt Vic. In the forbidden forest we meet Daddy Hagrid (Jed Davies) and Fang the dog (Austin Harrison) who welcome Frank with treacle tarts and licks (you decide who gives what). Davies’ Hagrid portrayal is brilliant and Harrison crawling across the floor and being patted by MacLeod-Whiting is something I didn’t expect to see. Aragog describes spider sex life, Frank is keen but Lucy says to ‘not count all your Hippogriff eggs before they hatch’.

Off to Mt Vic where we meet Wilma’s Alpha mother (Nina Hogg) who thinks that her daughter needs a more domineering man because that is what being a woman is all about (cue cringe laughs). She says that Frank must be killed and then marks her territory on Frank as he leaves.

Our final 2 contestants sing love songs for Frank with Wilma aggressively singing about knitting, killing him with love, and being alpha enough for both of them, and Aragog singing gently about tap dancing straight into Frank’s heart.

The time has come for our bachelor to pick their wife but first we find out that Wilma’s mum has been killed by Edward and that now Frank doesn’t have to die!
Frank emerges in a wedding dress and stands between the 2 contestants, going back and forth with words like forest and woods, knitting and weaving, creating so much suspense before asking Wilma to be his wife and Osborne letting out a brilliant howl as a yes.

Lucy weds them in unholy matrimony and with that the show is over!

This whole show is a credit to how well PopRox work together and how creatively genius their minds are. From start to finish the audience are enthralled, engaged, and attached to each character. Throughout the show there are cries of “NO!” “Aww!” and “Yes!” as contestants get eliminated, you are forced to find a new favourite if yours doesn’t make it, or you just change your mind based on the actors’ performances in each scene.

A testament to their talents is how quick these performers can change a scene based on suggestions or what the other person says and still have it be funny and seem flawless, they make improvisation look easy and that is no light task.
I love seeing PopRox in their monthly shows but I hope to also see more productions like this in the future where they get to truly shine.

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