Ghosts
Closing: May 10, 2025Ghosts - 2025 West End History , Info & More
Lyric Hammersmith
King Street London
“When you spend your life in thrall to a monster you find yourself trying to make monstrous
things somehow bearable.”
Helena is a woman on a mission. Since the death of her high-flying husband, she has dedicated herself to reclaiming his legacy. And her hard work is about to pay off, with a new children’s hospital bearing his name on the brink of opening.
But when their son Oz returns to the family home for the grand unveiling, he has ambitions
of his own. Ambitions that threaten to unravel their family’s most tightly kept secrets.
Gary Owen’s new play, a contemporary reimagining of Ibsen’s classic, is directed by Artistic
Director Rachel O’Riordan, reuniting the team behind the critically acclaimed Iphigenia in
Splott, Romeo and Julie and Killology.
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Ghosts
Horribly funny and dark tale of incest
8 / 10
Smurfit is magnetic in expensive cream athleisurewear, hair artfully sleeked and cheekbones burnished like a battle visor: she’s not afraid to appear hard and unlikeable. Scott-Howells is an edgy and fascinating actor, always pushing the envelope of what is permissible. Stone, ever-dependable, is terrific here. Allison, part of the extraordinary talent school that was Sex Education, has a quietly compelling authority on stage. Deka Walmsley completes a fine cast as her father Jacob. Well, when I say ‘father’...
You can't tear your eyes away from this vivid retelling of Ibsen which ratchets up the incest
6 / 10
Though this interpretation succeeds in becoming a story for the present, it struggles tonally. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the glut of incest narratives to land on the London stage in the past six months – see also The Other Place and double whammy of Oedipuses – it’s that when the guilty parties get down to it, audiences will gasp then snigger, loudly. Oz and Reggie’s (Patricia Allison) icky intimacy is also met with laughs. And though it gets there eventually, the chemistry between Smurfit’s Helena and Rhashan Stone’s level-headed Andersen (a lawyer not a pastor here) takes a while to warm up.
Category
by Aliya Al-Hassan - April 17, 2025
Gary Owen’s new play, a contemporary reimagining of Ibsen’s classic, is directed by Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan, reuniting the team behind the critically acclaimed Iphigenia in Splott, Romeo and Julie and Killology.
by Cindy Marcolina - April 17, 2025
Victoria Smurfit and Callum Scott Howells are the tragic mother-son duo in an exciting, tense, suspenseful adaptation. Owen shifts the script and makes this classic all about domestic abuse and the power of upper-class disdain. Rachel O’Riordan’s production is a masterclass in distilling tension and concentrating it without frills or games. It’s an emotionally challenging experience, pure theatre.
Ghosts History
Other Productions of Ghosts
| 1894 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1903 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1912 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1915 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1916 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1919 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1923 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1926 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1927 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1933 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1935 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1937 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1948 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1973 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1975 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1982 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1988 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2002 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2010 | West End |
London Production West End |
| 2013 | West End |
West End Revival West End |
| 2015 | Off-Broadway |
Brooklyn Academy of Music Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Lincoln Center Theater Off-Broadway |
| 2025 | West End |
West End |
Videos
