Ghosts
01 May 2025
Lyric Hammersmith
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Ghosts, which is just finishing up its run at the Lyric Hammersmith this weekend, is a new staging of Ibsen’s classic, modernising the setting and language heavily and slightly rewriting parts of the plot. Re-written by Gary Owen, and directed by Rachel O’Riordan, it is a monumental reworking that hauls the scathing social commentary into our modern times without losing its soul.
Helena has dedicated a big chunk of her late husband’s wealth to build a children’s hospital in his name, but when some unsavoury accusations surface, the charity attached to the hospital wants to remove his name from the project entirely. Helena’s ex-partner Andersen, member of the board of the charity, tries to convince her this is the best way forward. Meanwhile, Helena’s son Oz, spoiled out-of-work actor drifting through life on his parent’s fortune, struggles making sense of his own life while falling in love with his mother’s assistant Reggie, who is unknown to both Oz’s secret half sister.
The general skeleton of the classic play is there, but in this modernised version the looming threat isn’t just the head of the family’s lifestyle and resulting consequences, rather it is accusations of misconduct, physical and sexual abuse, that could taint the family name and follow Oz for the rest of his life. This rewriting is very clever, relevant to modern audiences, shuffling off the somewhat antiquated plot-lines and replacing them with similar but current themes instead. The modern language, setting, and topics are incredibly well crafted, heightening the connection of a modern audience with the classic play.
With an absolute stand-out performance by Callum Scott Howells as Oz, it’s a compelling and enthralling new play. Howells’ pretentious, spoiled young actor is tremendously haunted, each line dripping with disdain and derision for his distant mother, resenting his privileged but unfulfilled life deeply. His struggle is palpable, his pain visceral, his performance alone is more than worth seeing this play for!
With sleek stage design that cleverly plasters the grey walls with subtle images of the deceased patriarch, snapshots from behind just showing parts of his head and shoulders, a disjointed array that feels reminiscent and threatening all at once. Just a sofa and sideboard grace the large beige stage, with the back wall a floor to ceiling window looking out to grey clouds wafting in the background. A sterile, elegant setting that befits the image of modern wealth. Beige minimalism. Lighting design is mostly subtle, but occasionally jumps to astoundingly dynamic moments that assault the senses when tensions rise and scenes become more urgent and passionate. Similarly, sound design is kept to a minimum, with the occasional threatening drone underpinning particularly tense moments. It’s a subtle play for the senses, really laying focus on the words and actions of the actors rather than trying to dazzle with glitz, more of a subtle highlighting that suits the play extremely well.
While the ending doesn’t seem quite as urgently devastating as the original, it is on par in the rewriting, leaving the audience to fill in parts for themselves rather than feeding full conclusions. Overall it’s a great reimagining of a classic play for a modern audience, one that works incredibly well and adds depth and relevance to this devastating play.
