The brain-child of actor Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson (co-creator of The League of Gentlemen TV series)  Ghost Stories, is a theatrical oddity. It’s a short, sharp performance, with no interval to dissipate the tension, yet still  manages to tell three different stories bound up in an enveloping narrative structure that has its own tale to tell, and all this with only four actors (plus one rather vital extra.) It’s been around for some fifteen years now, from outer-London beginnings to central London success to movie adaptation to national tour, and the universal nature of its theme means it might go on forever. The truth is, you see, that we queue up to be scared, going for that rush of adrenalin that takes us through the (safely distanced) moment of shock and often leaves us laughing hysterically once we realise it’s over and that miraculously, we have survived a bit of stage mechanism, clever build up and associated sound and lighting effects – but for that one giddy moment we really were frightened. (And yes, Ghost Stories did evoke screams, gasps and laughter that mocked our own willing, split-second suspension of disbelief ) The central character, Professor Goodman (Dan Tetsell) is an academic, deeply sceptical lecturer doing a very good job of disturbing us with really spooky slides before explaining them away. His presentation slides into a trio of stories where the everyday worlds of a night watchman, a boy driving home and a financial speculator awaiting the birth of his first child each give way to the eruption of the weird into the mundane. And it does erupt – this isn’t subtle psychological horror but deliberately stagey, almost pantomimic effects that verge on the absurd. The tension, however, has been ratchetted up so tightly that for a second the absurdity matters far less than that moment of fear. And then there’s Professor Goodman, still holding on to his scepticism despite the odd glitch…And more than that I cannot say as we’re requested not to give away the central plot device. I will just mention, however, that if you’re a film buff, one of the images shown in his opening lecture will offer a big, self-aware clue.

Gail-Nina Anderson