Shirley: A Ghost Story
★★★☆☆ Eerie
The Space @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53): Fri 1 – Sat 23 Aug 2025
Review by Hugh Simpson
Shirley: A Ghost Story, from Moon Rabbit on odd dates at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall throughout the Fringe, is a carefully written and well performed piece of spooky theatre.
Moon Rabbit Theatre (Jasmin Gleeson and Josh King) specialise in historical one-woman plays. Their The Poetical Life of Philomena McGuinness is alternating with this production, which is based (very loosely) on the life of American horror writer Shirley Jackson.
Jasmine Gleeson in Shirley: A Ghost Story. Pic Moon Rabbit
The Shirley in this one-hander, performed by Gleeson and written by King, is a young Irish woman living in England, who writes spooky stories that are published under the name of her domineering academic husband. His desire to write an old-fashioned novel in the manner of M. R. James (or, as he calls him, Mr James) conflicts with Shirley’s wish to confront a ghost story that has haunted her since childhood.
It is refreshing to see a production based on a ghost story that relies on atmosphere rather than jump-scares, and the building up of tension is largely successful. King’s lighting helps with this, although a more ambitious sound design might help (and counteract that perennial Fringe problem, the inevitable noise coming from the adjacent garden).
thoroughly effective
Gleeson’s performance, meanwhile, is very fine. Her evocation of Shirley, an imaginative woman trapped in the role of post-war housewife, is thoroughly effective.
The depiction of the husband is rather less convincing, relying a shade too much on caricature, and featuring some jarring modern Americanisms that would surely not have been part of the vocabulary of a crusty post-war English academic.
Jasmine Gleeson in Shirley: A Ghost Story. Pic Moon Rabbit
There is also the problem of trying to fit just too much into the 50-minute running time. The result is that it feels rushed at times, which certainly does not enhance the atmosphere. A production that begins with an enviable attention to stillness and space thereafter becomes just a little too crammed full of words to give the audience enough room to breathe it all in.
There are many good things about the writing and performing here, however, whose balance of light and dark is just about right.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval).
theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Stephenson Theatre), Nicolson Street, EH8 9DW (Venue 53).
Friday 1 – Saturday 23 August 2025.
Odd dates only: 3pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Moon Rabbit website: www.moonrabbittheatre.com/
Facebook: @moonrabbittheatre
Instagram: @moonrabbittheatre
X: @moonrabtheatre
ENDS
