Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost brought to life at Southwark Playhouse this Halloween

Oscar Wilde’s gloriously ghoulish The Canterville Ghost will be brought to life at Southwark Playhouse this Halloween.

As part of award-winning theatre company Tall Stories’ 25th anniversary celebrations, the show will run at the London venue from 11 October to 5 November 2022.

The production is directed by Olivia Jacobs and will feature Matt Jopling (The Canterville Ghost, UK Tour, Beauty and the Beast, New Wolsey Theatre, What The Ladybird Heard; The Lyric, UK/International Tour) as the comedian, Callum Patrick Hughes (The Great Gatsby, The Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch; NewsRevue, Canal Café; Venus and Adonis, Wardrobe Theatre) as the illusionist, Katie Tranter (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Iris Theatre; Little Lily Harley, The Rude Mechanicals; Rumpelstiltskin, Insane Root) as the psychic and Steve Watts (As You Like It, Cheek by Jowl; Jumpers, National Theatre/Piccadilly; My Fair Lady, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane/UK tour) as the compere.

The Canterville Ghost features four valiant vaudevillians – a mysterious magician, a crazy comedian, a spirited psychic and their charismatic compere – with original music played live on stage.

These extraordinary entertainers will bring their sensational variety acts to the stage – woven into Oscar Wilde’s spooky story of the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville, who vanished without a trace 300 years ago.

When the Otis family move into Canterville Hall, they’re warned about the fearsome ghost that stalks its corridors. But the Otis family are a thoroughly modern bunch – has anyone warned the Canterville Ghost about them?

Toby Mitchell, artistic director and co-founder of Tall Stories, said: “Over the last 25 years, Tall Stories has become best known for producing work for family audiences. The Canterville Ghost is a spookier show for grown-ups – well, everyone over 12 years old.

“Our interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s ghoulish story is performed by four music-hall entertainers who reveal their own secrets, using music, ventriloquism, magic and psychic abilities. It’s a lot of fun! As Covid forced the cancellation of our 2020 tour (alongside so many other companies), it’s great that we’re finally able to perform the show at Southwark Playhouse this autumn. If you’ve got it, haunt it!”

For more information and tickets, visit southwarkplayhouse.co.uk