Review: A Ghost In Your Ear, Hampstead Theatre

Classic ghost stories do have very similar DNA. Common strands you’ll find include a rather odd lawyer, a creepy old house, often in a rather bleak and desolate location, and probably a snowstorm thrown in as well to really isolate the sorry soul about to be haunted. Oh, and there just has to be something that might seem trivial in the character’s life that will no doubt be recalled as the story reaches its zenith. Jamie Armitage’s A Ghost In Your Ear certainly has all these and more, giving it that classic ghost story feel, but it is then cleverly updated to place it within a modern setting without losing their pull.

Our unlucky victim for this haunting is an out of work actor (George Blagden), who quickly takes up the offer from Jonathan Livingstone‘s sound engineer to do a voice recording for an audiobook. And the story he is about to recite? A ghost story about a man who heads to the remote desolate home of his late father; a home that has plenty of hidden secrets about a father and grandfather he never really knew.

The ghost story within the ghost story is a clever framing device. The modern space of the sound booth, with all its high-tech equipment, sits in complete contrast to the setting of the story about to be told. It’s no great surprise to discover that Armitage cites The Woman In Black as an influence, and the similarities in how the story is told are unmistakable.

As a ghost story it works fantastically, at least once we get past a slightly stodgy drawn-out opening. Tension is constantly built and released, with enough jumps to satisfy lovers of the genre. Some nifty staging and lighting carry a lot of the heavy lifting here, flashing lights giving just a glimpse of the horror before it vanishes. The set, a sound booth complete with a glass barrier between audience and stage, is beautifully designed to contain the story.

Blagden gives a superb performance that brings the story to life, making it sound at times just like an audiobook, and he has great fun with the soundscape he gets to play with. Livingstone provides the required support as he sits quietly in the background, yet is always there to bring a little humour to further release the tension.

The show, though, comes complete with one major gimmick: the audience wear headphones throughout so that the sound is constant in our ears. Yes, quite literally a ghost in our ear. But I’m left wondering why? This is the second production I’ve experienced in this way but whereas the first felt an important aspect of the show, here I’m just not quite sure what it adds to the whole. I honestly believe it would work just as well, maybe even better, if we just heard the sound normally. Headphones remove us from experiencing this as a collective, and horror surely works best in a group? We need to fully experience the gasps, the held breaths and the release of laughter that makes stage horror a shared experience. Instead, we are isolated and disconnected from those sitting around us. It risks being a little too slick and removing what makes ghost stories so enticing.

The headphone gimmick might feel unnecessary, taking away rather than adding to the story, but even so A ghost In Your Ear still succeeds in delivering a fun spooky story with a few genuine scares.

Writer and director: Jamie Armitage
Sound design: Ben & Max Ringham
Set and costume design: Anisha Fields
Lighting design: Ben Jacobs
Movement consultant: Robert Strange
Dramaturg: Gurnesha Bola
Produced by HFH Productions and Hampstead Downstairs

A Ghost In Your Ear plays at Hampstead Theatre until Saturday 31 January.