Be still my beating heart. Oh, it is. But I suppose all the safeguarding and safety checks and trigger warnings are part of what it is to attend the theatre in this day and age. There is use of ‘binaural sound technology’ – whatever it is, having mobile telephones on during the performance is likely to cause interference and disruption to it, or so we were duly informed. Accordingly, there is a headset for each audience member, and yes, they are wiped and sanitised after every performance. The play is, according to the details supplied by the venue’s website, “intentionally looking to scare its audience”. It appears it largely succeeded, even if it somewhat dulled its own intention by telling patrons that if it all gets a bit much, you could always leave – this isn’t, after all, the Hotel California – but there is no readmittance. If you are sufficiently spooked, mind you, you probably aren’t inclined to go back in anyway. The other option is to remain seated and take the headset off, because, well, it’s called A Ghost In Your Ear for a reason.
The key question, I suppose, is: was I scared during the show? Genuinely, once, though this had more to do with a sudden increase in volume than anything visible on stage. It is at least partly my own fault, in the sense that I usually become very aware of my ‘actual’ surroundings when watching something intentionally frightening – at one point I considered what I would do with the rest of the evening if I were to take my headset off and march out of the theatre. (If you really must know, there’s a nearby Vue cinema on the Finchley Road.) That I had time to think about such matters was due to the breaks in the storytelling, of which more later.
George (George Blagden) is recording an audiobook. That he has to be told by good friend and techie, Sid (Jonathan Livingstone) that it’s soundproof is presumably a not-so-subtle note for the audience: what sort of decent recording studio isn’t soundproof? But not having been made aware prior to showing up for the recording what the story is about, George begins to find the tale genuinely horrifying, and with good reason. What those good reasons are, alas, would be giving away too much.
The sound technology worked, as far as I could deduce, perfectly, and it allowed for amplified sound to work in ways not usually experienced at the theatre. Actors are, in the settings in which regular theatregoers are accustomed, usually projecting to be heard clearly enough by everyone in the auditorium. So, it was an unusual experience to hear whispering in a play and yet hear every word of every whisper with crystal clarity. Perhaps more shows should adopt ‘binaural sound technology’ – the only whispering that I could hear, for the first time since I care to remember, from the actors, and not from someone in the audience who couldn’t resist a conversation with their companion mid-show. I mean, for that reason alone, this production is worth a visit.
Blagden’s George takes on multiple characters and gives each distinct voices and mannerisms – it was easy to forget it was just him and Livingstone’s Sid on stage. Coming up for air, as it were, every so often, because the tech gremlins crept in, or because the spooky story being read out all got a bit much for George, dissipated the tension that had built up. In this way, there are ebbs and flows, and the show is not exhausting to watch. The audiobook recording means by default there isn’t much to look at overall, and for all the technology, the play ultimately relies on the power of storytelling, which, of course, is how good theatre ought to be. Entertaining more than it was eerie, it was a thoughtful and satisfying experience.
Review by Chris Omaweng
“The ghost is not real, it is only in your ear…”
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.
George – George Blagden
Sid – Jonathan Livingstone
Writer and Director – Jamie Armitage
Designer – Ben and Max Ringham
Set and Costume Design – Anisha Fields
Lighting Design – Ben Jacobs
Dramaturg – Gurnesha Bola
Casting Director – Becky Paris CDG
Movement Consultant – Robert Strange
A GHOST IN YOUR EAR
Hampstead Theatre
6 December 2025 to 31 January 2026
