Ghosts
Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Richard Eyre
Directed by David Emmet
Questors Theatre, The Studio
16-26 January 2026
Star rating; 4
It’s a dark, brooding play about how the past can devastate the present. It also explores some very difficult issues including congenital syphilis, incest and assisted dying. No wonder it was widely banned almost as soon it was written in 1881. It’s Ibsen at his best, boldy challenging the assumptions and conventions of his day.
All credit to Questors Theatre for tackling it and for bringing it off with such aplomb. Richard Eyre’s adaptation pares it down to 90 intense minutes although he retains the three act structure but we’re in period. Juliette Demoulin’s set gives us 1880s furniture spaced to give the impression of a comfortable middle class home and it sits well in The Studio with seating on four sides.
Mrs Alving (Caroline Bleakley) is a widow who has just welcomed home her only son Oswald (Usmaan Khan) after a long absence. She and Pastor Manders (Darren Chancey) are in the process of setting up an orphanage as a memorial to her late husband. Also in the mix are a sparky servant girl Regina (Stella Robinson) and her rather unpleasant father Jacob (Martin Halvey). Nothing is at it seems – this is Ibsen after all. The titular ghosts haunt all five characters mainly in connection with the late Alving, who has left a great deal of damage in his wake.
Khan is terrific as Oswald – initially casual and hiding his feelings but eventually subsiding into a form of hell not of his making. He is a recent East 15 Acting School graduate, and it shows. He has that very distinctive way of immersing himself in role with charisma and conviction that I’ve often noticed in other who’ve trained at East 15. And Caroline Bleakley is outstanding as his anguished, misguided mother. I haven’t seen an actor having to mop the tears and visibly bring herself back to the real world at curtain call, since I saw Sharon C Clarke in Death of a Salesman.
Chancey does well as the manipulative, patronising, hypocritical, self-interested Manders. He’s so convincing that I wanted to hit him. Robinson finds plenty of warmth in Regina and her anger scene is strong. And Halvey imbues Jacob with the right level of cunning and sycophancy.
I first encountered Ghosts as a 19 year old student when I both studied and saw it. I’ve seen it several times since, most memorably directed for the RSC by Katie Mitchell with Jane Lapotaire and (a very young) Simon Russell Beale in 1994. This Questors production is as powerful as I’ve ever seen this play.
