David Benson’s Haunted Stage

> Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

The setting was ideal - after all the Guildhall in Bury St Edmunds is supposed to be haunted, so that made for a good scary start.

David Benson had the atmosphere right at the beginning and also had the audience joining in with their personal ghostly experiences. As this was ad-lib, he handled it very well.

Benson was very close to his grandfather, who told him “true” ghost stories at bedtime. Most of us would have been more than content with a conventional fairytale!

My favourite piece was of him as the 'camp' spiritualist Kevin, and he used the audience to great effect.

When he later tried to become more serious and ghostly, I found this difficult to comprehend but I guess he did as well.

I was not sure what he was trying to prove and I felt he lost some entertainment value at this point.

So it was a mixed evening of true and not-so-true ghost stories.

His use of complete silence was eerie, powerful and captivating and certainly did not put you at ease.

His blends of humour kept you on your toes but I am not sure the event will disturb my sleep patterns.