After a few minutes of tech­nic­al issues – which may have been an actu­al ghost in the theatre, who knows! – we’re brought into this show by James Mustap­ic talk­ing about being unem­ployed, to which sev­er­al people in the audi­ence cheer in unfor­tu­nate acknow­ledge­ment (myself included).

Mustap­ic is going to do a “prop­er stand-up show”, he reit­er­ates sev­er­al times, before the pro­ject­or behind him is pos­sessed by a ghost wear­ing a Scream mask, and we’re thrown through sev­er­al of James’ Repressed Memor­ies by the ghost, all of which are pro­jec­ted up on the screen, and relent­lessly mocked with some qual­ity memes.

If you’ve seen any of his con­tent for The Spinoff, this show fol­lows much the same vein. It’s abso­lutely a show for mil­len­ni­als, or at least people up with the times around pop­u­lar meme cul­ture, and feels fun and groun­ded, at least to someone my age.

James talks about his love for cats, Sens­ing Murder, Love Your Con­dom PSAs, and even recaps Short­land St (in a seg­ment that prob­ably goes on a for a smidge too long). He’s very witty, and knows how to play to a crowd, and I appre­ci­ate the occa­sion­al dip into slightly more ser­i­ous top­ics.

Does the ghost nar­rat­ive get resolved? Well, you’ll just have to go and see the show.

As a fel­low unem­ployed gay 22-year old with anxi­ety issues, this show res­on­ated a lot with me, and I wish James well.

I look for­ward to see­ing his future Wel­ling­ton shows!

 

The Blair Witch Pro­ject­or is on at BATS Theatre until the 11th of May 2019. Get your tick­ets here!