Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts Festival Theatre Edinburgh 3rd March 2026 Review
Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts is at the Festival Theatre this week (Tue 3 - Sat 7 Mar), and I think it fair to say that this show is one for the fans of the original Colin Dexter books or the now classic television series starring John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whatley as Sergeant Lewis (or both of course).
Wisely, this production has been set in 1987, the time period of the first of the television shows, thus avoiding modern elements such as vast computer and DNA screening databases and of course mobile phones. This world of 1987 is one that Morse is already uncomfortable in, so 2026 would have been too big a culture-shift for this much loved character and also created more than a few problems for this multi-layer whodunit script.
As with the books and television series, this production with Alma Cullen (writer) and Anthony Banks (director) has no spectacular big moments, instead this is a dialogue driven work where the audience gets to follow Morse and Lewis as they unravel an unexpected death during a live performance on stage of Hamlet, and into all of this is woven another storyline of Morse during his days as a student at Oxford 25 years earlier. How the past interacts with the present would put too many spoilers into this review, so I am not going to tell you.
In the leading role of Morse is Tom Chambers and, for the most part, he has that world weariness of this character pretty well defined, and trying to break the image of John Thaw out of many people's minds tonight was always going to be an uphill task for him, or anyone else performing this role. Likewise for Tachia Newall in the role of Lewis. From what I could see, this audience accepted both in their respective roles very quickly and the dynamics on stage between both of them worked well here. Keeping classical music in this production, where and when appropriate, also made that connection between Morse's love of it and the television series.
Adding the device of a play being performed within another one on stage is an old idea, but it never stops working well as you have that performer playing another on-stage performer, in this case, actors, producer, and it allows a whole double layer of writing and plotting to take place. Some tight scripting here also allowed for a sharp commentary of actors, producers and the theatre world in general.
Filling out the investigative and personal world of Morse tonight were some good performances by Teresa Banham (Ellen), Jason Done (Lawrence/Paul), James Gladdon (Freddy), Spin Glancy (Justin), Olivia Onyehara (Harriet) and Eliza Teale (Rebecca). There were some nice period details for set and costume (Colin Richmond), although it was obvious that this set was designed for a far smaller stage than the Festival Theatre, but shows always have to adapt to changing stage sizes. That change, though, can make a production like this, which relies heavily on a more intimate connection with its audience, a bit more challenging for everyone on and off-stage. Thankfully, the Festival Theatre's sister building, the King's Theatre, re-opens after a long refurbishment programme, later in 2026 and it is a perfect stage and auditorium size for dramatic productions like this one.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026.
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Wisely, this production has been set in 1987, the time period of the first of the television shows, thus avoiding modern elements such as vast computer and DNA screening databases and of course mobile phones. This world of 1987 is one that Morse is already uncomfortable in, so 2026 would have been too big a culture-shift for this much loved character and also created more than a few problems for this multi-layer whodunit script.
As with the books and television series, this production with Alma Cullen (writer) and Anthony Banks (director) has no spectacular big moments, instead this is a dialogue driven work where the audience gets to follow Morse and Lewis as they unravel an unexpected death during a live performance on stage of Hamlet, and into all of this is woven another storyline of Morse during his days as a student at Oxford 25 years earlier. How the past interacts with the present would put too many spoilers into this review, so I am not going to tell you.
In the leading role of Morse is Tom Chambers and, for the most part, he has that world weariness of this character pretty well defined, and trying to break the image of John Thaw out of many people's minds tonight was always going to be an uphill task for him, or anyone else performing this role. Likewise for Tachia Newall in the role of Lewis. From what I could see, this audience accepted both in their respective roles very quickly and the dynamics on stage between both of them worked well here. Keeping classical music in this production, where and when appropriate, also made that connection between Morse's love of it and the television series.
Adding the device of a play being performed within another one on stage is an old idea, but it never stops working well as you have that performer playing another on-stage performer, in this case, actors, producer, and it allows a whole double layer of writing and plotting to take place. Some tight scripting here also allowed for a sharp commentary of actors, producers and the theatre world in general.
Filling out the investigative and personal world of Morse tonight were some good performances by Teresa Banham (Ellen), Jason Done (Lawrence/Paul), James Gladdon (Freddy), Spin Glancy (Justin), Olivia Onyehara (Harriet) and Eliza Teale (Rebecca). There were some nice period details for set and costume (Colin Richmond), although it was obvious that this set was designed for a far smaller stage than the Festival Theatre, but shows always have to adapt to changing stage sizes. That change, though, can make a production like this, which relies heavily on a more intimate connection with its audience, a bit more challenging for everyone on and off-stage. Thankfully, the Festival Theatre's sister building, the King's Theatre, re-opens after a long refurbishment programme, later in 2026 and it is a perfect stage and auditorium size for dramatic productions like this one.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026.
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com