David Cardy plays a nightwatchman in an unsettling warehouse in Ghost Stories. Image - Hugo Glendinning
It might have been April 1st, but Ghost Stories didn’t fool around in its mission to terrify the audience at His Majesty’s Theatre on opening night.
Even before you took your seat, the auditorium lights were flickering against the backdrop sounds of dripping water and howling wind.
If that wasn’t a clue to what was coming your way, barely had the "show is about to start" announcement been made than the whole theatre was plunged into pitch blackness and ear-splitting screams.
And we were off...
Ghost Stories isn’t so much a play as a thrill ride. Not a roller coaster, though, very much a haunted house full of dread anticipation, brooding menace and things that suddenly jump out from the dark.
Judging from the shrill shrieks, leavened with nervous laughter, it lived up to its warning of “moments of extreme shock and tension” for the packed house last night.
Clive Mantle stars as an expectant father in Ghost Stories. Image - Hugo Glendinning
A word of caution for those who are of a nervous disposition – it really is an unnerving and uncomfortable experience if you’re not a fan of horror and chills.
Created by The League of Gentleman’s Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, co-creator of Derren Brown’s TV and stage shows, Ghost Stories has in its DNA those scary anthology movies of the 80s, such as Creepshow and Tales From The Crypt.
Three supernatural yarns are linked as an arch-sceptic, Professor Goodman, delivers a lecture on his paranormal investigations.
Dyson and Nyman certainly excel at knowing which buttons to push, playing on familiar tropes that haunt most of our nightmares.
Dan Tetsell is the arch-sceptic telling his tales of terror in Ghost Stories. Image - Hugo Glendinning
A lone watchman in an old warehouse picking out mannequins by torchlight. A teenager driving alone in the woods when he hits... something. A businessman awaiting his first child in a nursery where musical mobiles play on their own and jack in the boxes burst open.
The show’s creators also know how to ratchet up the tension with long moments of longueur leading to the jump scare you know is coming – but you still jump when it arrives, aided and abetted by a screaming soundscape that is scary in its own right.
It must be said the individual yarns shift away from the ghostly genre and start to sit more firmly in the file marked horror, but they are huge fun all the same.
All of them are delivered with excellent stage craft and some truly spooky effects.
Eddie Loodmer-Elliott plays the teen whose car hits "something" in the woods. Image - Hugo Glendinning
They are also delivered by a standout ensemble cast, so kudos to Dan Tetsell, David Cardy, Eddie Loodmer-Elliot and Clive Mantle.
All the best portmanteau films deliver a delicious twist that ties the disparate stories together and Ghost Stories has a belter of a sting in its tale.
It involves... you going along to see Ghost Stories for yourself. No spoilers.
What I can say is that if you love an evening sitting on the edge of your seat or not daring to look at what’s happening on stage, you’ll love Ghost Stories.
It runs at His Majesty’s Theatre until Saturday, April 5. You can find tickets and info here.
By Scott Begbie