Ghost Stories at Sheffield Lyceum: Review
11 Feb, 2025 | by Alex Moran
Ghost Stories at Sheffield Lyceum
Image(s): Hugo Glendinning
From stage to screen and back again…
Nyman and Dyson’s twisted brainchild has had one hell of a ride.
Inspired by a trip into Covent Garden, seeing The Woman In Black up in lights - Ghost Stories, a one-act horror play, has terrified the West End, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, breaking sell-out records along the way.
It was even adapted into a film (to much acclaim) in 2017, starring Martin Freeman and Paul Whitehouse.
Now its back on tour and back in the North, fifteen years on from it’s first preview in Liverpool, as blood-curdling and as brilliant as ever.
Tetsell has bags of charm, humour and storytelling prowess. Cardy, Loodmer-Elliot and Mantle’s natural talent draw us in with every twisted tale. But is it just the four of them out there in the darkness? Could there be others, watching, waiting, lurking in the shadows? No spoilers here.
Ghost Stories has been described as a fairground ride with dodgy brakes, and once you’re on this thrill-ride there really is no getting off. Arrive late, sneak out for a drink half-way through, you won’t be allowed back in. Such is Nyman and Dyson’s drive to keep all eyes firmly on the stage at all times.
This works to great effect. Supported by a deliciously horrid set (Jon Bausor), sound (Nick Manning) & lighting design (James Farncombe), we are treated to a relentless juggernaut that leaves us holding on and gasping for air, nailing the all-time horror USP - a mounting sense of dread and fear.
Ghost Stories is so good it leaves you wanting more, and with only one-act it’s well worth a second visit. Blink and you’ll miss it, but don’t blink again, you never know what might be staring back at you.