Ghost Stories (play)

2010 one-act horror play written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman

Ghost Stories

Original West End production logo

Written by| Jeremy Dyson
Andy Nyman
Date premiered| 4 February 2010
Place premiered| Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool
Original language| English
Genre| Horror

Ghost Stories is a one-act horror play written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman.[1]

## Background

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The play was conceived after Nyman walked past the theatre which had hosted The Woman in Black for over 30 years, and he realised there hadn't been a horror play produced since that time. He contacted his childhood friend Jeremy Dyson with the idea of a new horror play like The Vagina Monologues, with three narrators on stage telling ghost stories. The two were commissioned by Sean Holmes, the newly appointed artistic director of the Lyric Hammersmith theatre in London, to write the play.[1] Each of the stories is inspired by a famous horror film, including Screams of a Winter Night, Don’t Look Now, and The Ring.

## Production history

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Ghost Stories auditorium, Ambassadors Theatre, 2019

### UK productions

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The play made its world premiere at the Liverpool Playhouse on 4 February 2010 in a co-production with the Lyric Hammersmith where it transferred on 1 March 2010. Following the run, it transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End where it played from 25 June 2010 until 19 June 2011.[2] The original cast featured the play's co-creator Andy Nyman as Professor Phillip Goodman, David Cardy as Tony Matthews, Ryan Gage as Simon Rifkind and Nicholas Burns as Mike Priddle. From 9 November 2010, Reece Shearsmith took over from Nyman as Goodman.

The production was revived at the Arts Theatre on 13 February 2014 and ran until March 2015.[3]

The play was revived again at the Lyric Hammersmith, marking the end of co-director Holmes' tenure as artistic director at the theatre from 29 March until 11 May 2019.[4] To coincide with this revival, on 4 April 2019, the play text was published by Nick Hern Books.[1] The production transferred to the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End from 4 October to 4 January 2020.

Following the 2019 revival, the play began a UK tour from January 2020 at The Alexandra, Birmingham.[5] However on 27 March 2020 it was announced the remainder of the tour had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

In January 2025, the production began a tour of the UK again, opening at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, touring until September 2025.[7] Following the tour, the production will return to the West End at the Peacock Theatre for a Halloween season from 30 September to 8 November 2025.

### Other global productions

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In 2015, the show was produced at the Sydney Opera House[8] before going on an Australian National Tour concluding at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia in October 2016.[9] The play was also performed in Toronto (2011), Russia (2012), Peru (2015), China (2018), Finland (2018) and The Netherlands (2019).[1]

## Plot

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The play is notable for running only 80 minutes (with no interval) and for its publicized warnings advising against anyone under the age of 15 attending.[10] The marketing of the show outside the theatre is unusual in that there are no production photographs, just stills and video monitors showing the shocked reactions of audience members. An announcement at the end of the play asks the audience to "keep the secrets of Ghost Stories" so that new audiences do not have the experience spoiled with any prior information about the play.[11]

Reviews of the show have confined themselves to outlining the basic structure of the plot, which revolves around Dr. Goodman, a Professor of Parapsychology delivering a lecture on ghost stories.[12] In the lecture, he discusses a website featuring ghostly pictures, scienceofghosts.com.[13] He has recorded interviews with three people who claim to have had a supernatural experience. Each story seems to hinge on guilty feelings.[14] As each interview is played back, the story is re-enacted on stage. The stories are recounted by a night watchman, a teen driver and a businessman awaiting his first child.[15] These stories are then drawn together at the end, with a twist, as it becomes clear that the Professor is a participant in the stories and not simply a narrator.[11]

## Critical reception

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Reviewing the 2010 production, The Guardian called the stories "as substantial and troubling as the fake ectoplasm manifested by a dodgy medium"[16] while, in the same newspaper, a real-life psychic ghost hunter was quoted as saying the play "was refreshing, and made me jump, several times."[17] After revisiting the play in 2019, the newspaper concluded it had become more elegant over the years, but remained "more playful than petrifying."[18] Time Out called the play a "harrowing, 80-minute nightmare thrill."[19]

## Cast and characters

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Character  | Liverpool /
Hammersmith /
West End  | West End revival  | Hammersmith /
West End revival  | UK tour  | UK tour /

West End revival

|
|
|
|
|

2010  | 2014  | 2019  | 2020  | 2025
Professor Philip Goodman  | Andy Nyman | Paul Kemp  | Simon Lipkin | Joshua Higgott  | Dan Tetsell
Tony Matthews  | David Cardy  | Phillip Whitchurch | Garry Cooper  | Paul Hawkyard  | David Cardy
Simon Rifkind  | Ryan Gage | Chris Levens  | Preston Nyman  | Gus Gordon  | Eddie Loodmer-Elliott
Mike Priddle  | Nicholas Burns | Gary Shelford  | Richard Sutton | Clive Mantle

### Notable replacements

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#### West End (2010) production

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* Professor Philip Goodman \- Reece Shearsmith

## Creative teams

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### Original Liverpool and London production

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* Written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman
* Directed by Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman and Sean Holmes
* Associate Director Sean Holmes and Joe Murphy
* Designed by Jon Bausor
* Lighting by James Farncombe
* Sound by Nick Manning
* Special Effects by Scott Penrose
* Fight and movement director Roly Botha

## Film adaptation

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Main article: Ghost Stories (2017 film)

A film adaptation premiered in 2017, starring Nyman in a reprisal of his role as Professor Philip Goodman, Paul Whitehouse as the night watchman, Alex Lawther as the student, and Martin Freeman as the businessman.[20]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d Dyson, Jeremy; Nyman, Andy (2019). Ghost stories. London: Nick Hern Books. ISBN 9781848428263.
2. ^ "Ghost Stories (Duke of York's Theatre)". Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
3. ^ "Ghost Stories Review". eventseeker.com. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
4. ^ "Theatre review: Ghost Stories at Lyric Hammersmith (Main House)". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
5. ^ "Ghost Stories UK Tour – Book Tickets Now". British Theatre. 21 September 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
6. ^ @GhostStoriesUK (27 March 2020). "An update for our GhostStories UK Tour ticket holders". Twitter. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
7. ^ Admin (17 June 2024). "Ghost Stories National Tour Announced for 2025". LondonTheatre1. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
8. ^ "- YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
9. ^ "Haunting pyschological [sic] thriller Ghost Stories to tour Australia from July". The AU Review. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
10. ^ "Ghost Stories - Artist Profile". Retrieved 27 February 2020.
11. ^ a b Spencer, Charles (1 March 2010). "Ghost Stories at the Lyric Hammersmith, review". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
12. ^ Gardner, Lyn (2 March 2010). "Ghost Stories: Lyric Hammersmith, London". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
13. ^ Phil; Andrew (3 March 2010). "Review - Ghost Stories, Lyric Hammersmith". West End Whingers. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
14. ^ Taylor, Paul (9 March 2010). "Ghost Stories, Lyric Hammersmith, London". The Independent. London: Independent Print. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
15. ^ Johnson, Angela (10 February 2010). "Review: Ghost Stories at the Liverpool Playhouse". Click Liverpool. Liverpool: Mecury[sic]Press Agency. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
16. ^ "Theatre review: Lyn Gardner on Ghost Stories". the Guardian. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
17. ^ "Ghost hunter Ian Shillito on Ghost Stories". the Guardian. 16 March 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
18. ^ "The week in theatre: West Side Story; Little Miss Sunshine; Ghost Stories – review". the Guardian. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
19. ^ "Ghost Stories review, Lyric Hammersmith, London, 2019". The Stage. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
20. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (5 October 2017). "Ghost Stories review – Martin Freeman and Paul Whitehouse shine in dreamlike spookfest". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2017.

## External links

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* Trailer, 17 March 2010