You Have Been Warned - A Spoiler Free look at Ghost Stories

Not to be confused with Ghost Stories (when will they do that on Tabletop?), Ghost Stories is a play that's just started a new three month West End run.  I first saw it three years ago when it was on at the Duke of York theatre, and last weekend I caught the start of the new run at the Arts Theatre.  Now the show relies a lot on some pretty big secrets; in fact, as you leave, you walk past a sign saying how many people now know the secrets (which when I was there stood at just over 310,000).  As such, I am going to work very hard to make sure I don't give anything away, while still giving a full and fair review.  Challenge Accepted.

You'll know what sort of thing you're getting into the second you hear who the creators are.  Jeremy Dyson, one quarter of The League of Gentlemen (he's the one you don't see on screen that much) and Andy Nyman, actor from many a horror title like Severance, Dead Set, Crooked House and more, and also the mind behind a lot of Derren Brown's shows (including the infamous Seance special).  Now I can't get into the plot of this at all, but what I can say without spoilers is that it is a collection of ghost stories in a portmanteau horror style, akin to the classic Dead of Night, or the Amicus anthologies the League paid tribute to in their Christmas special.  They are all simple, but memorable and well put together stories, all of which use the stagebound nature of the show to full effect.  Each one has a strong element of isolation, both fairly literal, as the characters are on their own somewhere for most of it, but emotional too, as they all have by choice in one way or another, distanced themselves from the world, or one particular person.  They all have a common theme of the characters already being haunted in some way, usually in a matter of guilt, before the actual supernatural begins.  This play actively asks questions about the meaning of ghost stories, and horror in general, why we engage in our fears in this way.  In it's revelations, the show gives us real food for thought.

Now all the advertising focuses on the show's reputation of terror, and in that regard it delivers magnificently.  The format of the show is incredibly immersive, not least in the fact that a lot of effort has been put into the decoration and preparation of the theatre itself, setting the mood before the first actor even says a word.  The staging involves a lot of very effective uses of light and darkness, with a few clever uses of breaking the fourth wall with it, shining some of the lights directly into the audience, to act as transitions and give the illusion of longer journeys the characters take.  Furthermore, the play transplants every great trick of scary movies to the stage extremely well.  There are some magnificently done jumps scares in here, but the right sort of jump, where it's been built up to with maximum atmosphere, and when something jumps out, it's actually something to be scared of, it's not a false start.  No Spring Loaded Cats in here!  It's worth mentioning that since the last time I've seen this, the play has had some tweaks and changes made, with a few new surprises.  The stories are the same, but there are extra twists, and a few scares have been slightly retimed, coming not quite when you're expecting... (of course, that could also be me mis-remembering the first time I saw it!)

While all this sounds very foreboding, there is one more very important factor about this show; it's a lot of fun!   There's a good amount of humour in here, in the dialogue, in the characters, and even in some of the scares. A lot of the actual effects are classic ghost train types of surprises, but here made so effective in story.  The early parts have a lot of really amusing lines, and good horror needs a lot of wit to it.  We need time to catch our breaths between shocks, we need to be lulled into a false sense of security, we need to get a connection to the characters, and humour does all of that. (See this excellent Den of Geek article for more on that).  As such, there's a lot of well timed gags, from amusing character traits, to some well timed responses to the horrors, and some amusing ways the internet age is used.  That's one of this show's biggest strengths; how modern it is.  Now I absolutely adore many period ghost stories and Gothic tales, and in terms of stage shows, I will recommend to everyone going to see The Woman in Black.  However, ghost stories should not be left only in the past, they can still work well here and now, and this show proves that.  Hell, the spread of creepypasta shows that they're not going anywhere expect forward.

Ghost Stories is on until late May, and I urge everyone here to go see it while it's still on.  It's an 80 minutes you will not forget anytime soon, that's creepy, shocking, exhilarating and very smart.  If you're a horror fan, you'll especially dig a few nice little references here and there, including some good choices of music.  If you're not usually a horror fan, this might just be the thing to convert you!  Just don't make the same mistake I did first time, and go alone...

Two more things.  First when you see it, why not pop into Orbital Comics next door?  Second, among the merchandise being sold at the box office are some books by the creators I also recommend; Andy Nyman's The Golden Rules of Acting, and Jeremy Dyson's The Haunted Book...  Sweet dreams!