Theatre review: Ghost Stories

For his final season at the Lyric Hammersmith Sean Holmes returns to the biggest commercial hit of his time there - Ghost Stories went on to have a couple of West End runs, international productions and a film adaptation – reviving the production he co-directed with its writers Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman. That means it’s the same production I saw when it premiered in 2010 so technically I could call this a re-review, but nine years is probably enough time to say I’m seeing it with fresh eyes. Having said that, I remembered a lot of detail, probably refreshed in my memory when I saw the film version. Which is fun, but the stage remains where this story works best: Simon Lipkin takes over the role originally played by Nyman himself, as parapsychologist Professor Goodman gives a lecture on ghosts, looking at paranormal tales from the earliest legends to the newest websites collecting “ghost” photos, and showing as he goes how they’re actually the mind’s eye seeing what it wants to see.

At the heart of his lecture are three recordings he’s made of people who claim to have had paranormal encounters; these are the ones he’s found the hardest to debunk, but he still believes he can explain them away.

Night watchman Tony (Garry Cooper) had an eerie night guarding a warehouse full of mannequins, teenager Simon’s (Preston Nyman) car broke down in the woods at 3:45am, and banker Mike’s (Richard Sutton) wife was in hospital with a complicated pregnancy when odd things started to happen in the nursery. Needless to say that’s all I can say about the plot, except that the stories all tie into each other in ways that might not be quite what you expect, and Goodman starts to give signs that he’s not all he seems either. The Lyric hasn’t missed a trick in getting everyone in the right mood from the start – from the warnings to avoid it if you’ve got heart problems, to the spooky noises played into the bar, and the flickering lights in the auditorium.

Scott Penrose’s special effects provide some gasps and jumps, but Nick Manning’s sound design, along with James Farncombe’s lighting and the nooks and crannies of Jon Bausor’s set, make a huge contribution to building up the tension and mood; meanwhile Roly Botha makes a contribution that is definitely only as fight and movement director as credited, and not anything else. In all honesty some of the jump-scares are a bit naff, but then jump-scares usually are, and if like here the tension’s been built up right it doesn’t matter. Dyson and Nyman know that one of the biggest elements isn’t anything on stage but the audience itself (it’s no coincidence that the show’s publicity has always revolved around audience reaction shots.) Lipkin’s amiable lecture sets the scene for just the right mix of letting your guard down and nervousness, and the shrieks and gasps are a big part of the fun, while the story’s eventual twists are what make it stick in the mind afterwards. And that’s all I can safely say about a show that’s still a lot of fun.

Ghost Stories by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman is booking until the 18th of May at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Chris Payne.