Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson are probably best known for their award-winning collaborations with Derren Brown and membership of the League of Gentlemen, respectively. They’re also both avowed aficionados of the classic English ghost story, which depends as much on atmosphere and pacing for its impact as it does for the inevitable reveals and shocks, and Ghost Stories, their first play together, seeks to capture the delicious power of being properly scared.
This Lyric Hammersmith production of their collaboration has been recommended for ages sixteen and over ‘due to extreme shock and tension’, and those of a nervous disposition are invited to stay away. If you’re brave enough to overcome your fears, then the first indication that things are going awry comes when you enter the theatre, which has mysterious numbers chalked on the walls and eerily flickering house lights. The play begins with a staid-seeming professor, Philip Goodman (as played by Nyman), who is delivering a lecture on the supernatural, which he illustrates with three stories of the paranormal that he has encountered in his career. Gradually, the connection between all three becomes chillingly clear.
Dyson and Nyman are fully aware of the potential for hokiness and camp in the material, and so the mixture of ‘boo!’ scares and, later on, genuinely disturbing revelations are balanced by a good number of laughs. Extremely well acted by a capable cast that also includes Nicholas ‘Nathan Barley’ Burns, this is a highly entertaining night out at the theatre that shows that it’s not just the cinema that has a monopoly on successfully creepy horror stories.
Until 3rd April. www.lyric.co.uk
