‘The story delivers’ ★★★★

There was a marvellous moment just before curtain up (or, in reality, lights up) where the charming usher suddenly dropped his mobile phone on the floor causing the entire audience to squeal in fear. With headphones on, the combination of a dark auditorium, a blacked out stage and precisely worded messaging funnelled through the eardrums sets this chiller up in just the right way - and the story then delivers.

Down-on-his-luck actor George (George Blagden) gets a gig via old friend and sound engineer Sid (Jonathan Livingstone) to voice a ghost story in a new out of town studio - away from Soho thus necessitating the now obligatory mention of Gail’s as is seemingly required in any modern theatre show. After some friendly banter and a ‘this might be important later’ mention that Sid is about to become a father, George admiringly takes up the (literal) microphone head and begins to tell the tale. 

The story that unfolds is of a son going to the house of his recently deceased father. What follows is a tick box of classic horror moments - the slow reveal, the voices, the noises, the corridors, the jump scares and (I’m pleased to say) the neat twisty denouement. Why this all works without particularly doing anything new is down to the perfect combination of location, technology and off stage talent. I’m a huge fan of Hampstead Theatre’s downstairs stage which has chameleon-like qualities and, here, Anisha Fields’ set and Ben Jacobs’ lighting design are spot on in enabling the scares and giving the sense that ‘anything can happen’ in a small space. The use of top notch headphone sound by Ben and Max Ringham works well - it never feels over-done or invasive - and Jamie Armitage’s script and direction lead George’s character to maximise the opportunity to get right into the audiences minds - via their ears obv.

The acting is good also. Blagden perhaps takes a while to warm up but he tells the story as someone would both as a voiceover actor and then as someone who is having ‘stuff’ happen to him that just can’t be explained. Livingstone flits in and out, and has fun with the jaunty Sid who may or may not hold the key to it all…..

The audience I saw the show with was mixed in every way - great to see for Hampstead Theatre - and clearly had a ball with plenty of nervous laughter, whooping and jumps. A distant relative of Inside Number 9, A Ghost In Your Ear is a good old fashioned story which encourages careful viewing and listening to deliver a very, very satisfying outcome.

HAMPSTEAD DOWNSTAIRS PRESENTS

A GHOST IN YOUR EAR

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JAMIE ARMITAGE
A COLLABORATION WITH BEN & MAX RINGHAM

6 December - 31 January 2026

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