Ambassadors, London – until 4 January 2020
Reviewed by Serena Norgren
4****
Perhaps it was the above warning; or the theatre bedecked in construction lights, crime scene tape and nightmarish numbers graffiti-ed everywhere or the low level pulsating noises (can’t really call it music) but there was a palpable buzz in the theatre and a genuine nervous anticipation before curtain up.
Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s cult phenomenon, Ghost Stories, is reprised in the West End after a successful run at the Lyric, Hammersmith. It has been described as the ultimate twisted love-letter to horror. In it, we meet Professor Phillip Goodman, played brilliantly by Simon Lipkin. He is a Professor of Parapsychology delivering a lecture on ghost stories. He has spent much of his career debunking paranormal cases, explaining the apparently inexplicable and recounts three tales that have particularly perturbed him. Lipkin does a first class job – he is engaging, enthusiastic, slightly shambolic but articulate and believable.
Through these tales we are taken on a journey that is macabre, occasionally weird, occasionally funny, tense and often terrifying. The four cast members are all brilliant, the set is extremely clever with lots of surprises and technical wizardry and the writing excellent. Jon Bausor’s design does a great job of dialling up the tension enhanced by James Farncombe’s atmospheric lighting.
Reviewers have been asked not to give too much away about the story but suffice to say this is more than just a Thorpe Park-esque Halloween thrill ride, this is a well-crafted, genuinely chilling piece of theatre brilliantly done that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and leave you sitting on the edge of your seat. Go see it, if you dare!!!
UK tour from the 7th January 2020