Keep telling yourself it’s only a story…

Last weekend I took a trip to London to see one of the West End’s newest additions, Ghost Stories. Normally I stick to TV and film, but this piece of fried gold blew me away so much – I just had to spread the word! As the show begs for the viewer to ‘keep the secrets of Ghost Stories’ I will happily oblige and keep this review short and sweet, without giving away anything to ruin it.

Before the show even begins you are filled with a sense of foreboding, sparked by the décor in the Leicester Square’s Duke of Yorks Theatre which is kitted out with industrial lighting, dark wallpapers, hazard tape and cob-webbing. The experience as a whole, including being shut into the theatre and told that ‘anyone who leaves won’t get back in’, really kick-starts the whole style and atmosphere of the show.

Mark Carter (understudy) plays Professor Goodman, an expert in parapsychology and yet an evident sceptic. Carter is great, building up a rapport with the viewers from the outset by using a conversational tone and employing a touch of audience participation. The professor shows the audience a variety of recordings and images, supposedly conveying paranormal activities, each of which he hastily explains away. Only three stories have ever given him cause to question his scepticism, which he proceeds to tell with the help of his trusty tape recorder and four other flawless actors. Each story succeeds, with the help of some wonderfully executed sounds and lighting, in making the audience shriek and jump with fear, all in unison, and the ending offers a delightful twist that you don’t see coming.

Andy Nyman’s Ghost Stories is an edge of your seat horror taken to new heights by the initial concept of having the terror physically in front of you. Sights, sounds, and even smells, are all magnified to make it an intense experience, outdoing anything a simple DVD can provide.

Would I go again? Hell yes; I do love a good scare. Book it, book it now! 9/10.