As we head towards Halloween we thought it was a good time to head back to the Ambassador’s theatre to take a look at the return of “Ghost Stories”. The theatre sets the scene with background haunting music that’s also played into the bar, with some mysterious numbers written onto the walls and some lanterns hung throughout the auditorium. Subtle but nice touches.
The show is based around Professor Goodman who begins by giving some background on his profession, looking at potential ghost photographs and I actually felt like I learnt a couple of things. He focuses on explaining ghost sightings, including in photographs, in a scientific way. Basically, he tries to disprove sightings. He follows this up by telling us about three stories each of which he hasn’t been able to explain and these are acted out on stage.
These stories are where the show impresses with some fantastic effects. The stories have derelict factories and dark deserted country lanes, complete with a fitting amount of fog. The lighting is used particularly well in these scenes and they are suitably creepy and ominous.
But the stories themselves are more problematic. The stories build up the suspense within the stories slowly and carefully but the climaxes of these then don’t deliver. There are a few jumps along the way but the final scares tend to be more unintentionally comic than scary. The stories are also very clichéd. It would have been nice for more imagination to have gone into their development. The basis of these stories is that they can’t be explained but he then goes on to explain them.
Having said that, it is well acted with four well drawn out characters. And it is impressive how the stories get wrapped together. It is a different theatre experience and it may introduce a wider audience to the magic of theatre which can only be a good thing.
The production is enjoyable but didn’t meet the expectations it set itself. It’s entertaining, you might learn a bit and you’ll see some fun short stories. But don’t be expecting a big scare. We give this three Laura Michelle-Kelly stars.
It runs until January 4th and you can buy tickets here: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/ghost-stories/ambassadors-theatre/
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