Dead Men's Eyes: Two Ghost Stories by M R James

Robert Lloyd Parry is back at Theatre@41 on Wednesday 25 November, bringing two ghost stories by M R James to the stage. The show is called Dead Men's Eyes, and it's part of Nunkie's M R James Project, a series of one-man shows that bring James's stories to life.

James is the master of the English ghost story, and Parry takes on two of his. The first is A View from a Hill, where a pair of old binoculars reveal the unsettling history behind an idyllic English landscape. The second is The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, which follows a treasure hunter who finds something indescribable at the bottom of an old well. Both are told as single-performer pieces, so it's just Parry on stage bringing the stories to life.

There's a bit of history behind the whole thing, too. The M R James Project is Nunkie's way of reviving the tradition of oral, supernatural storytelling that James himself perfected in Cambridge in the years before the First World War. That's the kind of thing he was known for: stories meant to be told aloud, often in the dark, where the atmosphere does half the work. The Sunday Times called it 'the perfect blend of humour, warmth, apprehension and deep unease', and The Daily Mail recommends it for ages 12 and over.

So, if you're into ghost stories told the old-fashioned way, this is one for you. It's Robert Lloyd Parry at Theatre@41 on Wednesday 25 November.