Originally co-produced by and premiered at Liverpool’s Playhouse in 2010, Ghost Stories went on to scare the living daylights out of delighted audiences at the Lyric Hammersmith, then in London’s West End and in numerous tours and international productions It was also successfully adapted for the screen in 2017. It should have made a return to Liverpool as part of a tour in 2020, but a quite different horror story put paid to that when the nation’s theatres all closed due to the pandemic. Now on tour again, the production returns for one week only to the stage where it was first seen.
Rather like the legendary Mousetrap, the producers request that audiences—and reviewers—refrain from disclosing the show’s secrets, so does my review end here?
Not quite, because there are some things that can be said without giving the game away. It is safe to say that this is, as suggested by the title’s plurality, an anthology of ghost stories. We begin with Professor Goodman, played by Dan Tetsell, who arrives to give us a lecture about the paranormal, during which he goes on the relate three individual accounts of spooky goings-on that have been told to him during his researches. We are presented with dramatised versions of these stories. David Cardy plays Tony, a night watchman, who witnesses something he hadn’t bargained for, then Eddie Loomer-Elliott appears as Simon Riffkind, a timorous young man out for a late night drive. Finally (or maybe not) comes Clive Mantle as Mike Priddle, a bluff businessman who is in an empty nursery anticipating the birth of his child.
Suffice to say that each of these stories builds to a grim climax before giving way again to the learned professor at his lectern. Like all the best horror, there is a twist in the tale that brings the play to an unexpected conclusion and succeeds in linking all that has gone before with a single, rather nifty piece of sub-plot.
The narrative by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman is directed by the writers along with Sean Holmes, and through this collaborative approach to presenting it they are able to build a rollercoaster of tension throughout the unbroken 85 minute span. The sense of foreboding and menace is created as much by the silences between the words as by the text itself, and this is heightened by a brooding soundtrack from Nick Manning which rumbles ominously in the background. James Farncombe’s lighting provides the finishing touch to the genuinely creepy atmosphere.
All of this is played out on a set by Jon Bausor that is immensely impressive. There is clearly a lot going on behind the front drop cloth that Professor Goodman talks to us in front of, because there are some extremely clever and effective scene changes taking place. Add to this a series of special effects that have been created by legendary illusionist and magic consultant Scott Penrose, and we are in for some truly startling moments of pure theatre. Overall it is something of a masterclass in stagecraft.
In the 15 years since its premiere the play has undergone a fair few tweaks and changes that have finessed its presentation, and the result is a really well executed hour and a half of entertainment. Depending on your disposition, you may very well jump out of your seat with shock in various places, and the resulting screams and subsequent laughter make for quite a ride. This is horror in the best British tradition, and is certainly not for the faint-hearted.
Ghost Stories runs at the Playhouse until Saturday 15th March and then continues touring through to 2nd August.
Star rating: 4 stars
Dan Tetsell as Professor Goodman - Picture by Hugo Glendinning
This review was originally written for publication by Good News Liverpool
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