REVIEW: Ghost Stories

It might be a scorching night in July but temperatures inside the theatre dropped rapidly as the curtain rose on a spine-chilling play.

Ghost Stories is now playing at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

This uncanny one-act horror play first premiered 25 years ago and proved such a hit with theatre-goers and critics that it was transferred to London’s West End followed by a world tour which has been performed in every continent.

The incredible success of the theatre production eventually led to a movie starring Martin Freeman (The Hobbit) which was released into cinemas in 2017.

Despite the commercial success of the film it fails to capture the intensely claustrophobic and immersive energy of the stage show which is palpable and gripping.

Instead of sitting around a camp fire to listen to gothic tales in the dead of night, this tense and suspenseful play becomes a closed auditorium for 90 minutes where no one is allowed in or out as ghostly tales come to life on the stage.

Whether an audience member is a believer in ghosts or a sceptic it makes no difference at all because the themes of mental health, guilt, loss, loneliness, rejection, abandonment, betrayal, deep rooted regret, and broken hopes and dreams have been haunting and roaming inside human beings since time immemorial and this intelligent drama taps into these buried emotions.

Guilt is a dominant factor that lurks in the landscape of Ghost Stories, and the emotional intensity in which guilt is explored is so profound and moving that many people seeing the play for the first time will recognise aspects of guilt and grief from their own lives. This primordial phantom has plagued and stalked humanity throughout the ages.

The creators of this eerie play - Jeremy Dyson (League of Gentlemen) and Andy Nyman – are both passionate about the Horror genre. Their reverence for psychological horror films such as Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and  Hideo Nakata’s Ringu – and the cerebral ghost stories of medievalist scholar M. R. James – are apparent in their fear-inducing play.

The recurring message that lurks in every nook and cranny of the play is simple and direct: ghosts are real. We keep these restless spectres buried inside us. Some of us are better than others at keeping these terrifying spooks concealed. However, no matter how good someone is at keeping their fearful demons caged up, sometimes they escape their confinement in human minds and break free to haunt our external world.

Ghost Stories is an invitation into the world of the uncanny and the weird where the horror has an insidious way of snaking its way into the human soul.

The creators of the play ensure the scares are tempered and balanced with black humour which alleviates the sense of creeping dread that permeates every aspect of the play.

Audience members might be laughing here and there but their nervous laughter is mostly a cloak to cover up the paranoia that keeps building and rising as each of the three tales contained in Ghost Stories unfolds upon the dark and ominous stage.

The concept for this frightening play is deviously clever, and wickedly told. A professor takes to the stage to deliver a lecture on parapsychology in which he discusses three cases where individuals have allegedly experienced paranormal events.

As each ghostly case is explored and details shared with the audience, the stage transforms into the world of the story being discussed by the professor who is on a mission to expose and debunk all things supernatural related.

This is the kind of rare stage experience where the less the audience knows about the three tales – and how they come to life – the more vivid and exciting will be their night at the theatre. People attending the show are politely requested to refrain from sharing or discussing plot details with those who have yet to see the production. Some of the deliciously witty and spooky tricks and twists are best experienced without any prior hint or warning.

The production makes dynamic and dramatic use of lighting (James Farncombe) and sound (Nick Manning). These two elements are used to generate a truly haunting atmosphere that gets under the skin and ignites the mind. Even before the play begins the lights begin to flicker and unearthly sounds echo around the auditorium as the audience takes their seats. The sound of howling, the rush of air, and a dripping tap becomes invasive and unnerving.

All this, and the show hasn’t even started, and people are already looking nervously over their shoulders. The power of suggestion is so compelling that each audience member will be conjuring up their own phantasmagorical imagery.

There are many moments throughout the three stories where the ingenious combination of light and sound creates an unsettling rhythm and pulse. Pools of inky shadows and ghostly mist seem to move and glide across the stage as discordant white noise crackles and creaks from above, behind and in front of the audience.

The stage is shrouded in uneasy darkness which unhinges the mind and opens the door to allow all kinds of nameless phantoms to enter the subconscious.

The small cast (Dan Tetsell, David Cardy, Clive Mantle and Lucas Albion) produces tight and convincing performances which bring mystery and suspense and keeps the audience guessing about what lies around the next corner. There is an organic and natural flow between the performers which gives the stories an authentic gravitas.

Halloween night might be months away but this harrowing play ushers in enough chilly frights at the theatre to keep folk entertained and spooked until then.

Ghost Stories will make you believe in the unseen.

Verdict: ★★★★★

Ghost Stories is now playing at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 5th July 2025