Review Roundup: A GHOST IN YOUR EAR at Hampstead Theatre

HFH Productions and Hampstead Theatre are presenting the world premiere of Jamie Armitage’s Ghost In Your Ear. The production will now run until 14 February 2026.

An actor arrives late at a sound studio for a last-minute job that he is yet to see the script for: an audiobook recording of a particularly chilling ghost story. But as the evening progresses, the horrors start to escape the pages of the story, and haunt the studio itself...

A Ghost In Your Ear is the new play from Jamie Armitage, the writer/director of 2024 sell-out hit An Interrogation. Made in collaboration with Ben and Max Ringham (ANNA, National Theatre and Blindness, Donmar Warehouse). 

Using binaural sound technology, the audience wears headphones so they are immersed in the terrifying auditory world of the show.

Health warning: this play is intentionally looking to scare its audience. If you are of a nervous disposition, then caution is advised…

 Katie Kirkpatrick, BroadwayWorld: Among the Hampstead Downstairs’ typically more intellectual drama programming, A Ghost in Your Ear feels like a bold departure, in the best possible way. It maintains the intimate feel and focus on new writing, but has a broader commercial appeal, and tries something genuinely quite innovative that could easily draw in non-theatregoing crowds. This show also continues the venue’s excellent recent history of design work, fully transforming past recognition for each show and allowing designers at all stages of their career to experiment to the best of their ability. 

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: The blend of the everyday and uncanny is reminiscent of Inside No 9 and the twist at the end is worthy of that series too. Although its scare tactics are not especially new, from the black-outs to the knife-like music and jump scares, it is sleekly executed and excellently acted by the ever more jittery narrator. What makes it innovative is the focus on listening: there is a creepily intimate sense of sound pouring into our ears, from the swishing windscreen wipers of the man’s drive up to his father’s house, to his accelerated breathing and gasps.

Tim Bano, Financial Times: It’s a piece that uses mood as much as jump scares to unseat us. The big, loud frights are few, and each is terrifying. As a ghost story, it twists and unsettles and gets under the skin. As a technical achievement, it’s pretty remarkable. It knows we might think the binaural thing is a bit of a gimmick, and even George is sceptical. Until those voices start to whisper in our ears.

Daz Gale, All That Dazzles: I was intrigued by the description of A Ghost In Your Ear, mainly for its use of binaural sound technology. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t something as exceptional as this. Refreshingly creative and stunningly realised, this play is like nothing I have ever seen before, creating a multi-sensory experience and striking atmosphere that allowed for an escapism I have rarely had in a theatre. It may be unsettling at times, and it may prove too much for those with a nervous disposition, but I came out of there completely blown away by what I had seen… and, more importantly, heard.

Rob Warren, Everything Theatre: 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.