Scream-a-long a theatre with Ghost Stories
Posted 23rd January 2025
There will be a chill in the air this month that, for a change, won’t have anything to do with the temperatures outside!
Ghost Stories, the supernatural stage scarefest co-creation of Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson arrives at Milton Keynes Theatre on Tuesday, February 18 for a five-day stay.
It’s not completely new – having premiered 14 years ago, before making it onto the screen in the film version starring Martin Freeman and Paul Whitehouse.
And yet the secrets that have led to its success remain closely guarded, by creators and audiences alike.
“Secrets are precious,” Andy explained, “If you give people a secret that they really enjoy and you ask them nicely to keep it, they do.”
Andy is a chap who knows only too well the power of keeping lips buttoned – before Ghost Stories, he was the man behind many of Derren Brown’s mystery-filled stage shows and early TV performances.
“Everything is spoiled for you,” he said, “Every single film and television trailer ruins plot points. Jeremy and I love the experience of telling people a really good story without them knowing anything about it in advance. You feel the buzz in the audience; it’s an exciting thing to sit and watch.”
So with no plot spoilers in sight here, what is he prepared to share with us?
“Ghost Stories is a 90-minute scary, thrill-ride experience about a professor of parapsychology who investigates three inexplicable hauntings. That’s as much as you get and that’s more than we ever used to give.”
But actually, he does have a little more for us: “A rattling hour and a half that will make you roar with laughter, leap out of your seats and talk about it for a very long time,” is the promise.
Jeremy, best known for his work with The League of Gentlemen, has a long history with Andy, forged over a shared love of horror.
“It probably started, for me, with Scooby Doo,” said Jeremy, explaining his infatuation with creepy tales. “There were a lot of scary things for kids around in the 70s, and lots I was enchanted by. Doctor Who would have been a part of that, which in the 70s had a real horror edge to it. So, the groundwork was done by the time I was seven or eight years old. People used to buy me collections of ghost stories for my birthdays. They were supposed to be for kids, but they were the most terrifying tales.
“It’s a very English genre,” he admitted, explaining more about the horror path he treads, “Certainly when it comes to the supernatural side of things. The English sensibility defined a lot of that. It’s a very English tradition, and there’s no question that’s part of what we’re celebrating in Ghost Stories.”
This MK visit is long-overdue – part of a planned tour of the Isles that was cut short due to the pandemic.
The duo behind this spooky, psychological blood-curdler really wants every last ticket-holder to get their full fill of fear, excitement and joy: “If people are paying their hard-earned money to see a show you’re putting on, you have a massive responsibility to give them more than they pay for,” says Andy.
“It’s not fair to think, ‘that’s good enough, it will be fine’, you have to over-deliver. You’ve got to lose sleep over it. When the show is up and working and you keep tweaking it to get it right, and you see people going away happy, you know the main reason you’ve got to that place is you’ve felt a responsibility and you’ve worked hard at it.”
This show is likely to make you scream like a banshee and giggle like a schoolchild – very possibly at the same time. If you love a good scare, get yourselves there!
Book tickets: atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes