The Deadhouse

The one-man show begins with Patrick, neat in black jeans, black, black jacket and black Chelsea boots, addressing the fourth wall from a simple dining chair. The walls are as black as his clothes. We gather quickly that the Dead House – not a phrase our mourner enjoys – refers to the place where the deceased lies before making his trip to the graveyard.

Patrick eventually leaves his seat and walks us about the house. In the bathroom he encounters the dead man’s toothbrush. Elsewhere he comes across a traditional barrel-shaped caravan and considers where he came from and where he is going. The performer is best known as a stand-up comic, and much that is memorable in The Dead House could be filed under Observational Humour. Who from this country will not recognise his economic sketch of a domestic funeral? The men are too proud to show emotion. The women gather blackly “like crows” around the coffin.