“Ghost Stories” by Andy Nyman & Jeremy Dyson

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

There’s an online warning that accompanies this show stating that “people of a nervous disposition may want to think twice about booking a ticket for this show”, but how frightening can it be to sit with a theatre full of people and experience theatrical ghost stories? Well, here's one spoiler that I can reveal; I saw this play the last time it was here in Nottingham at the Theatre Royal, so I was better prepared for it this time around, and it still made me jump and gave me goosebumps.

Now, much as I would love to tell you so much about this show, I can't because I do not want to give away any other spoilers, so what can I leak?

Joshua Higgott plays Professor Goodman who kick starts the evening with a light-hearted but uneasy lecture on the nature of fear and the appeal of ghost stories. He then presents three stories from the Supernatural which, at first seem to be completely separate stories but it becomes apparent that these are not as unrelated as they first appear. In fact they are the stuff that nightmares are made of!!!!

The story telling is second to none, and the actors, Dan Tetsell (Professor Goodman), Eddie Loodmer-Elliott  (Simon Rifkind), David Cardy (Tony Matthews), and Clive Mantle (Mike Priddle) - hang on weren't there more than four actors taking the bows at the end? - were all excellent and created that unease, easily. Lucas Albion is billed as Ensemble, so watch out for when the "Ensemble" arrives!

Another thing I experienced, and I don't know if this is auto association, but, I could smell certain things just after the things I could smell were mentioned. Strange but in my mind, true, or was that just my imagination?

The lighting design (James Farncombe) and the Sound design (Nick Manning) really makes this a wonderfully unnerving experience and creates many of the scary moments. And the special effects are equally unnerving. They both show that darkness  and noises from out of nowhere really can scare the Scheiße out of you, even when surrounded by hundreds of people.

With this being the second time that I have seen this show, I almost prepared myself for what I could remember happened, but you know when you're waiting for a moment to come, and then when it does, still makes you jump and go cold, well that was me tonight. That said there was one part as well that I hadn't recalled at all and was spectacularly scary.

I tell you how much this production will play on your mind, and I'm not normally affected by scary movies etc, but even when I get off my bus on the way home, I power walked to those steps and made it down there in record time. The power of the mind eh?

The set designs (Jon Bauser) are excellent, and they are put into place with such speed that it was almost cinematic with the rapidity of the scene changes.

Directed by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, they have managed to create an atmosphere where people manage to feel uneasy en-masse. The jump scares, and everything else to do with this piece of theatre are perfectly timed to create the biggest effect for an audience. The effects used create some real stage magic, and more than that I can't say as I would not want to give anything away. There's an audio statement given out at the end advising not to tell anyone anything about "Ghost Stories", and who am I to tempt fate? 

I ain't gonna give away anything about this play but to confirm that it will unnerve you. It will make you jump. And you will want to see this play again, even though you know what is coming and the ending.

The show lasts ninety minutes straight through with no interval, and once you're in the auditorium, if you decide to go out, you will not be permitted back in, so make sure that you empty your bladders before the show starts!

For anyone who loves being frightened, and paying to be frightened, you will love this production. just make sure that you take someone with you.

Sweet dreams all, and just remember, that shadow in the corner of your room after lights out, and that creak on the stair when you are all in bed, hopefully will just be that... but then again......

“Ghost Stories” is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 3 May.