My Bestie from Uni and I went to see this; Ghost Stories at the Duke of York theatre on Monday evening.
It has been hyped to be one of the scariest things you will ever see, and that audiences have been hysterical about it. So Louise and I were looking forward to have the absolute crap scared out of us. We got to the theatre a little early, and got the drinks in. The theatre had been decked out like an abandoned building with yellow Police Only tape strewn about, random numbers scrawled on the walls and spooky noises throughout.
We sat in the bar for about 15 minutes, sharing our own scary stories and basically winding ourselves up before going in for the show itself.
We had Stall seats right at the end of the row, three rows from the front(!), so I made Louise sit on the outside, so if anything jumped out of the door next to us, then It would get her first! :P (I am such a nice friend.)
I can't really tell you much about the play itself (spoilers, darling). The premise of it being a lecture on the paranormal was cool, even to the point where the Lecturer's thesis was one I thought "ooh, I wouldn't mind doing that." The three stories/examples that were used through the show were creepily done, even if I have read way too much on ghosts and urban myths so recognised a great deal of the ideas/inspiration about the stories. But as discussed with Louise afterwards, using stories that people (the audience) are kind of familiar with is a very good way of engaging them.
The whole set up was geared to make you uneasy, (strange noises, weird lights and blasting the really cold air conditioning up high, I recommend take a cardie or jumper,) and it works well. You do need to go with the frame of mind as you do when venturing onto a ghost train. You want to be scared, in a safe way and have fun doing it. So on that level, I do think that Ghost Stories was a success. Yes, it was a little predictable, but ghost stories usually are.
All in all, 7/10. I thoroughly enjoyed it, was a little bit frightened while it was going on, but not so much I couldn't sleep that night. (Especially in a strange old spooky hotel.)
