Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s Ghost Stories returns to the stage with a masterclass in theatrical horror, dark humour and unforgettable special effects, writes DAVID TURNBULL
Ghost Stories, written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, first debuted as a stage play in 2010 and enjoyed three West End runs before its 2018 big-screen adaptation featuring Martin Freeman and Paul Whitehouse in 2017.
Now, 15 years later — the same age Dyson and Nyman were when they first met — it is enjoying a new lease of life at the Peacock Theatre near Holborn in a show which runs until 8 November.
I attended the opening night on 30 September.
The accompanying programme provides lots of interesting things to read while waiting for the curtain to go up. Articles on haunted theatres and theatrical illusions sit alongside a conversation between Dyson and Nyman on their influences and the play’s history.
I found myself seated ominously in seat 13 in my allocated row. As I was flicking through the programme, accompanied by the atmospheric pre-show sound effects of eerily dripping water and howling winds, someone sat in the seat in front of me.
I was pleased that he wasn’t too tall and that he wouldn’t therefore block my view of the stage. His friend joined him.
It was then that I realised I was sitting behind none other than Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. Hardly surprising, I guess, when you consider Jeremy Dyson was one of the co-creators and co-writers of the cult TV series League of Gentlemen, which featured Mark Gatiss alongside Shearsmith and Pemberton.
For this new run of Ghost Stories, Dyson and Nyman are sticking by their original policy of asking audiences not to reveal the plot.
If you’ve seen the original stage play or indeed the movie, you will know the twist in the tale. If you haven’t, I will abide by the policy and I won’t spoil it by making any unnecessary revelations.
In a nutshell, the play centres on paranormal investigator and debunker Professor Goodman, played by Jonathan Guy Lewis, who introduces the terrifying ghost stories told to him by three of his subjects, played respectively by David Cardy, Preston Nyman, and Clive Mantle.
In this sense, the structure is similar to the type of anthology horror films favoured by Amicus Productions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A central character holds the plot together while the other characters recount and act out their own scary stories.
But everything is not as it seems with Professor Goodman—and that’s all I am going to say.
The casting was fantastic, the actors expertly bringing the characters to life. My favourite was David Cardy in the role played by Paul Whitehouse in the movie version.
And not forgetting the fifth cast member, Lloyd McDonagh, who played the different and terrifying supernatural entities, collectively known as ‘the others’, and managed to scare half the audience out of their wits.
But for me, the real star of the show was its special effects, expertly put together by the team of James Farncombe (lighting), Nick Manning (sound), and Scott Penrose (special effects).
Together they created, through the use of lighting and occasional darkness, jarring and unsettling noises, and genuine jump-out-of-your-seat spine-chilling effects, an atmosphere of brooding tension and shocking climaxes.
Lots of dry ice wafting in and out of the scenes added to the spooky atmosphere. Somehow, despite being a stage play, the effects gave the whole thing an oddly cinematic quality.
The cast managed to lighten the mood here and there with a thread of dark humour which ran through the show.
An hour and a half is the perfect length for the play, and with no interval there is no let-up in the relentless assailing of your senses which keeps you on the edge of your seat right till the very end.
Also, take a little notebook with you if you go to see it, because you will come away with a lexicon of new paranormal terms and phrases as relayed by Professor Goodman at various points in his presentations.
If you make your way home via Tube from Holborn Station, you will immediately be reminded of where you’ve just been with a huge advertising hoarding for Ghost Stories above the escalators leading down to the platforms.
Dyson and Nyman’s next project, The Psychic, which carries the tagline “Is any of it real?”, will premiere on stage at York Theatre Royal in April 2026.
If Ghost Stories is anything to go by, it’s bound to be another spookily engrossing experience.
Have you seen Ghost Stories? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!
