Review: Hector Kreeping’s Book of Despair @ Cymera Festival

Birdy made it back to Cymera for the ominous-sounding Hector Kreeping’s Book of Despair, in need of grim horror funsies.

I requested a press ticket to Hector Kreeping’s Book of Despair from “the slightly cracked mind of Tom Black” because creepy scary horror silliness is definitely my vibe.

Not quite sure of what to expect, I bravely (or perhaps brazenly) sat myself in the front row on the right, and perhaps giving off a creepy vibe myself, I had the entire row all to myself.

Suffice to say, it wasn’t exactly a packed room, but I’d still consider it a decent turnout for an hour of spoken word (let’s just say I’ve seen – and have been in charge of organising – worse).

Vibe

The vibe wasn’t quite there when myself and another gentleman first arrived; in fact, we were told to wait outside the room another few minutes until the vibe was ready. When the vibe was indeed determined to be ready, and the ambience achieved, we entered again, to… not much of a difference, really.

After another few minutes, the lights went out (this would have been more effective with the help of some blinds or curtains), and it was time for Hector Kreeping himself to emerge!

I’d say Hector was actually the determining factor of The Vibe – or maybe he was the whole Vibe just by himself – with his top hat, Victorian-style clothing, and large leatherbound book attached to a rattly chain – which was, in turn, attached to him. We were back on track for spooky tales.

Performance

Hector Kreeping took his seat and began to tell us some morbid tales. They were mostly very spooky-entertaining, rather than spooky-scary, and that was quite all right. Another, very important thing about the stories was that they were original, and all seemingly scribbed down by hand in Hector’s massive book (I was close enough to see the pages).

I particularly enjoyed the HR nightmare story, as there was a bit of anatomica thrown in, and I’m really into that for my current art project. There was an element of drama when Hector stamped down hard on his chain, which… had a surprising effect on me. Turns out I like seeing a man doing a bit of loud chain stomping and shouting – who knew?

Other fun tales included the tale of the demonic chicken, and Poppy, the little rabbit who didn’t heed any damn warnings. Coincidentally, I was still thinking about that rabbit later when crunching on some raddishes in a potato salad at the Gilded Saloon, but that’s by the by.

Another fun section of the show was the agony aunt section, and I particularly laughed at the way the stuffed crow plushie was thrown across the room to ‘deliver’ Hector’s letters.

Sadly, I had to leave Hector’s show before he was quite finished telling his final tale – I left at 7:30pm on the dot, but sadly the show, billed at an hour, was overrunning by a minute or two (potentially because it took a little minute to get the candle lit for it).

Overall

I’m glad I spent an hour (unfortunately no longer than that, as I had prior commitments) at Hector Kreeping’s Book of Despair, and do hope Tom Black wasn’t too offended at me leaving on time.

The audience were relaxed, ready to listen and laugh, and the stories were well received, so I’d say this was a successful show and one that no doubt will continue. If there’s anywhere ready to receive more Hector Kreeping, it’s certainly his local city of the ‘Burgh – and I’ll happily support him (not with money, mind – I’m a bit of a broke student right now).

I’d be happy to recommend future Hector Kreeping shows to any of my friends who like that sort of thing (which, I believe, is most of them).