Ghosts at the Lyric Hammersmith – Theatre review round-up

"Gasps and laughter greet this modern revamp of Ibsen’s shocker"

"Gary Owen’s update changes the names and themes from the original, but retains the toxic power as a stellar cast negotiate the myriad secrets and suspicions"

"Ghosts exemplifies Ibsen’s creed that the key events of a play take place before it starts: everyone is either hiding, or having hidden, something from them. The actors grippingly chart the negotiation of these secrets and suspicions. Victoria Smurfit’s Helena shows how the greater agency of a modern Mrs Alving has not prevented moral compromises but also allows her contemporary solutions. Callum Scott Howells as Oz is sassy, sarcastic but ecstatic at the prospect even of dangerous love. Patricia Allison’s confident, rebellious Reggie movingly becomes the story’s core of common decency. Rhashan Stone plausibly makes a corporate fixer the equivalent of a sanctimonious cleric and Deka Walmsley’s Jacob trails the exhaustion of a man who has kept quiet to survive.""

"Crucially, this Ghosts, retaining the toxic power of the original, will grip whether you know the play or don’t.

"Scorching update...Horribly funny and dark"

"Gary Owen’s gripping contemporary version of Henrik Ibsen’s airless 1881 drama is quite astonishing, not least in its use of humour to defray the fatalism and ponderous foreshadowing of the original."

"Even the most psychologically acute moments remain fair game for humour. "

"Rachel O’Riordan’s production is impeccably cast, with riveting central performances from Rivals/Cold Feet star Victoria Smurfit and It’s a Sin’s Callum Scott Howells as her son Oz. "

"Stone, ever-dependable, is terrific here. Allison... has a quietly compelling authority on stage. Deka Walmsley completes a fine cast."

“Victoria Smurfit is utterly gripping

"This fascinatingly knotty reimagining from playwright Gary Owen aims to recapture that sense of transgressive outrage, with a bold, modern-day, post-#MeToo reframing.""

"Owen’s revised, contemporary-language dialogue feels on-the-nose at times. Yet there is an appealing thread of pitch-black humour running through the text.""

"O’Riordan’s taut staging teases out the uncomfortable humour embedded in every scene, drawing shocked laughter and squeals of discomfort from the audience.""

"Victoria Smurfit is utterly gripping as wealthy widow Helena...swings between fragility and steely resolve, indignantly raging one moment, flinching in terror the next.""

"Callum Scott Howells is strong as her awkward, oversensitive son Oz... He shares an unforced chemistry with Patricia Allison’s tough and practical Reggie."

"Gripping...a riveting moral and emotional rollercoaster"

The Ghosts in Henrik Ibsen’s 1881 play are not of the supernatural variety — no bumps in the night or spooky goings-on. Yet you might assume as much if you heard the audience gasps in Gary Owen’s gripping new version, led by flintily excellent Callum Scott Howells. It’s quite something that, in the hands of Owen and director Rachel O’Riordan, this desolate tale of secrets and lies still has the power to shock.

There’s an element of melodrama to the production and it takes a while to settle: initially the prickly conversation between Helena and Rhashan Stone’s Andersen feels sticky and burdened by exposition. But it’s still a riveting moral and emotional rollercoaster.

"Fiercely witty"

"Callum Scott Howells delivers a tour-de-force performance"

"Gary Owen reimagines Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece as a sharp, funny and gut-punching domestic drama set in a misty, grey corner of modern Wales. The result is a striking tale of reputation, self-preservation and the cost of parental sacrifice, delivered with biting wit and tour de force performances."

"Owen’s script is pacy and electric, efficiently unpacking years of backstory without ever getting bogged down.

Ghosts is a sharp, snappy reimagining of a classic. Gary Owen’s adaptation manages to be both darkly entertaining and emotionally resonant, pulling audiences into its inky depths with witty dialogue and surprising humour."

"Solid but smashes up a few too many of the original features"

"You can’t modernise a play by turning it into Oedipus Rex"

"Ghosts has hardly lost its edge: STIs, incest, adultery, euthanasia and blasphemy haven’t become twee. And I’d say playwright Gary Owen has bitten off a bit more than he can chew in trying to aggressively modernise a play that is, at heart, extremely modern."

"A frustrating, awkward update"

"Gary Owen’s ambitious West Country reworking of Ibsen’s once-scandalous drama, which seesaws between melodrama and awkward comedy, isn’t helped by some unconvincing performances"

"Like the National Theatre’s recent ultra-metropolitan reworking of Phaedra, it’s an example of actors playing second fiddle to the visuals."