★★★★

“a taut fusion of gothic storytelling and modern innovation”

Ever wanted to experience gothic horror at point blank range? Jamie Armitage blends spine chilling storytelling with binaural sound to conjure ‘A Ghost In Your Ear’. Part stagecraft, part technological innovation, this thrilling production delivers a mesmerising and uniquely unsettling experience – though it’s not for the faint hearted!

George, an actor between jobs, thinks he’s lucked out when friend Sid offers him a lucrative audiobook gig. But the late-night recording session isn’t all it seems. Step into the booth if you dare.

Jamie Armitage’s second play, with dramaturgical support from Gurnesha Bola, marks a confident stride into horror, charged with tension and gothic atmosphere throughout. Though it leans on familiar tropes (a lone male protagonist, creaking mansion, supernatural presences and lingering misfortunes), its clever use of a story-within-a-story lets our imaginations do the real scaring before an arresting final jolt ensures you’re haunted all the way home. Combining this with Ben and Max Ringham’s binaural sound is a real triumph: every whisper, breath and shudder lands with unnerving clarity, creating an intimate, visceral experience that brings the ghosts uncomfortably close. You could argue the binaural design isn’t as audacious as Darkfield’s freakier experiments, but it’s still strikingly effective.

Armitage’s extensive directing credits with movement consultancy by Robert Strange show we’re in assured hands. Flickering red lights, unnerving black mirror and creepy headphone voice build suspense before the show even starts. Once we get going, the tension is expertly calibrated, simmering through subtle shifts in tone, light and sound. Punchy jump scares draw real screams before well-timed cuts release the tension, the swift resets proving almost as impressive as the scares. The only slight misstep is Sid’s climactic reveal, which lands with less oomph and urgency than expected and briefly breaks the spell.

The Ringhams’ binaural sound design, with associate designer Matt Russell, truly elevates the piece. The music and ambient textures coil the atmosphere like a spring; an unsettlingly intimate soundscape then emerges through the brush of beard, a trembling sob, a racing heartbeat. If anything, the ghostly interjections feel a little sparing and a touch more wouldn’t go amiss. Setting the binaural mics within a grey sculpted head is inspired, signalling the audience’s unacknowledged presence and giving a subtle, eerie glimpse of what’s to come.

Anisha Fields’ set and costume design shape the mood with precision. The suitably oppressive recording studio becomes a pressure chamber for the unfolding action. Two way mirrors create visual illusions and allow Sid’s reassuring presence to vanish at crucial moments. The audience also sits behind glass, deepening the disquieting atmosphere.

Ben Jacobs’ lighting design is a masterclass in deceptive simplicity; what initially seems stripped back reveals intricacy and real subtlety. An almost imperceptible dimming during George’s extended monologues signals our descent into the supernatural, and contrasts strikingly with dramatic flashes, jump scares, and even total darkness at the climax.

This pacy two hander relies on George’s extended monologues to drive the narrative, and George Blagden rises to the challenge with remarkable intensity. Blagden is deeply expressive, gliding from everyday ease to unravelled desperation with disarming fluidity, amplified by sinuous physicality and a rich, versatile voice. Jonathan Livingstone’s jocular Sid provides much needed reassurance and relief, while carefully guarding the darker layers of his story, proving an engaging, assured and impeccably timed counterpart.

‘A Ghost In Your Ear’ is a taut fusion of gothic storytelling and modern innovation, leaving audiences gasping and ominously on edge. Though it may not be for everyone, the binaural sound design creates a genuinely immersive experience which is absolutely worth seeking out.

AN INTERROGATION

Hampstead Theatre

★★★★

“The three-strong cast is uniformly compelling”

Debuting his play in Edinburgh in 2023, writer director Jamie Armitage had to deliver this police interrogation drama in a tight 59 minutes. At the Hampstead Theatre, he uses the extra 10 minutes to great effect, packing his bonus time with an odd twitch, an extended silence or an implacable blank expression denoting nothing – not guilt or innocence.

It is these small touches – like a dab of white that brings alive a painted eye – that add so much to this exquisitely polished gem.

The set-up is familiar from a thousand cop shows: a nervous female detective is convinced of the guilt of an amiable and upstanding citizen, and she has to break down his faultless veneer against the clock. This kindly gent has given up his Sunday to amble his way towards a discussion about the unseemly business of two women, one killed a while ago and another missing.

He must answer for some strange coincidences in his tale but he’s happy to do so. Why not? He’s an establishment CEO, head of a brain injury charity, pillar of the community, knows people in Government. He has alibis up to here.

No, there’s absolutely nothing remotely guilty about middle aged, middle class Cameron Andrews. But fidgety DC Ruth Palmer has a hunch.

How will she set about the task? To what extent will she succumb to or exploit these inherent power dynamics?

And so we begin, the clock counting down in the hunt for the missing woman. Not so much cat-and-mouse as cat-and-another-cat, this one licking its self-satisfied whiskers, too clever by half and not likely to be undone by a brittle young woman.

The set is simple yet evocative. Plastic chairs, plain table. Water cooler. Yellow office lighting draining colour from already pallid skin. You can practically smell the stale sweat and cold coffee.

It’s a pin drop experience as we lean in to pick up on every inflection, and squint to analyse every tell and posture. The live-stream screen on the back wall is both a help and hindrance in this regard. Yes, it draws attention to the telling gestures for the people at the back, but the sudden close-ups also signal when A Big Moment is looming, which is clumsy in such a subtle piece.

The three-strong cast is uniformly compelling. Colm Gormley as John Culin, the mentor detective, plays his cards close to his chest. Does he have Palmer’s back, or is he playing another game entirely?

Rosie Sheehy and Jamie Ballard as Palmer and Andrews are flawless. Their softly-spoken interchanges are so light, yet so freighted. There’s not much action but they seem to morph throughout as if the mind games were physical. They reel, deflate, rise, go again. But only ever minutely.

In set-up and purpose, An Interrogation draws on influences from Silence of the Lambs to Line of Duty. So it’s tempting to play interrogation cliche bingo – her slip, his slip, the accusation, the big gamble etc.

But this absorbing play is too disciplined to oversell those moments. It is all quietly brilliant.

Good job this tense little duel lasted only about an hour. I finally got to exhale.

Tag Archives: Jamie Armitage

A GHOST IN YOUR EAR

★★★★

Hampstead Theatre

A GHOST IN YOUR EAR

Hampstead Theatre

★★★★

“a taut fusion of gothic storytelling and modern innovation”

A GHOST IN YOUR EAR

Hampstead Theatre

Reviewed on 8th January 2026

by Hannah Bothelton

Photography by Marc Brenner

A GHOST IN YOUR EAR

A GHOST IN YOUR EAR

A GHOST IN YOUR EAR

AN INTERROGATION

★★★★

Hampstead Theatre

AN INTERROGATION

Hampstead Theatre

★★★★

“The three-strong cast is uniformly compelling”