This is the second post in a mini series about Even More Ghost Stories by Candlelight, where I am interviewing the creatives bringing this show to life. You can read the first post, where I interviewed the director of the show, Elle While, here: https://oneshowatatime.co.uk/2025/10/25/theatre-news-interview-even-more-ghost-stories-by-candelight-heads-to-the-stage-an-interview-with-director-elle-while/
Following the sell-out sensation Ghost Stories by Candlelight, Penatbus Theatre and HighTide have collaborated to bring a brand new edition of this show to audiences with Even More Ghost Stories by Candlelight.
Even More Ghost Stories by Candlelight features four spine-tingling tales from award-winning writers. This haunting co-production invites audiences into the secretive, spectral corners of the East and West of England.
Even More Ghost Stories by Candlelight has already kicked off its UK tour, which commenced on the 6th October, but fret not – the show runs until the 8th November. The remaining venues are Shakespeare North Playhouse, before the show concludes its run at Battersea Arts Centre.
You can find out more about the show, where it is running and most importantly, book tickets here: https://pentabus.co.uk/even-more-ghost-stories-candlelight-0
As you will know from the previous post in this mini series, I got the exciting chance to interview many of the creative forces bringing Even More Ghost Stories by Candlelight to life. Having shared my interview with Elle While, director of the show, today I will be sharing the interviews with some of the writers of the stories that have been adapted for the stage. Then, at the weekend, I will be sharing my final interview to conclude this mini series, so be sure to stay tuned for that last post too.
The award-winning writers behind these stories are Florence Espeut-Nickless, Simon Longman, Anne Odeke, and Rosa Torr. Here are the brilliant interviews I got to conduct with three of these writers. So, let’s hear what Longman, Odeke and Torr had to say…
Note: the answers I have been sent back for these interviews have not been edited in any way, shape or form.
Interview with Simon Longman, writer of Cold Oak Lane
Simon Longman is a playwright originally from the West Midlands. His work has been produced, performed and translated around the world. His plays include: Falling Falling Falling Falling (RWCMD/Young Vic); (Circle Dreams Around) The Terrible, Terrible Past (National Theatre, Connections); Patient Light (Eastern Angles); Island Town (Paines Plough); Gundog (Royal Court); Rails (TBTL); White Sky (RWCMD/Royal Court); Sparks (Old Red Lion) and Milked (Pentabus Theatre Company).
He was awarded the 49th George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright and was also a recipient of the Channel 4 Playwright’s Scheme. He is an Associate Artist at Kestrel Theatre Company, which works within prisons around the UK, teaching and exploring playwriting. His plays are published by Bloomsbury.
Hi, thanks for taking the time for this interview! Let’s start easy – can you introduce yourself, tell me which story you have written, and a little bit about the story?
Always find this question the hardest! It’s that blank you get when someone asks ‘what’s it about?’. But I’ll try. So yes, I’m Simon. I’m a playwright. And Cold Oak Lane is a ghost story about someone running from some personal trauma. Running not in a complete disregarding sense, but just escaping for space. To breathe. To try not to think about anything for a moment. But in this running, the haunting manifests.
Do you normally find yourself writing content of a spookier nature? Is this the theme of the content you yourself like to consume, or was this a change in genre for you when writing the story?
I’ve never written anything with a specific ghost story brief as this. I guess in everything we write as playwrights we’re using the past moments of our characters to echo into the play. These moments cause characters to behave, in some way, in the way they do. So I suppose every character is haunted by past actions that will, if used to tell the story, occur in the present of the play. Everyone is made that way, right? We’re all a product of things that have happened to us. The choices others have made that have affected us; the choices we’ve made that have done the same to ourselves and others. So it’s all massively connected. So thinking about it, I suppose Gundog is the most ‘haunted’ play I’ve written previously. Not that it’s a ghost story at all. But the characters in that play are hugely affected, and haunted by things they can’t seem to control.
Was there any particular inspiration behind the story, or did you start writing and then the story just evolved as you went?
It did evolve as I was writing it. I wrote the first draft in a day. I went for a walk, shut myself away, and wrote it. I always like thinking about first drafts as the vomit draft. You just have to get it out of you. Then once you have it, the work of shaping, cutting, reworking begins. Which is a more fun place to be for me. Writing first drafts can be punishing. Once you have something to work with, it becomes a little more enjoyable – digging into how it will work actively.
The first image I had was someone standing in a field, looking back towards an autumn sunset and seeing something looking back at them in the distance. Growing up in the middle of nowhere this was one of the things that creeped me out. That sense of distance. That sense that maybe seeing something far away, but looking back at me, would be incredibly unsettling. It wasn’t closeness that scared me. But distance.
How does it feel to have your writing being told on stage?
It’s always a weird/nice/terrifying feeling. It’s the sort of end point for something. The amount of work that goes into stuff before an audience sees it is huge. The writing, the shaping, the rehearsing. All the amazing hard work of designers and directors and lighting and sound and stage managers always makes me happy – being part of something collaborative. Which theatre is. That feels good. And then add an audience to that collaboration, and there’s an energy that I can never get used to. Which is a good/terrifying thing.
What are your hopes for your story being adapted for the stage? Is there anything in particular about the production you’re apprehensive about?
I mean, you want to write a ghost story that’s scary, I guess! And you can’t scare everyone. Everyone has different fears. Different reactions to things. That’s the fun of writing for a live audience. Everyone is different. So that’s be the main worry – is this actually scary? I hope it is. I wrote a bit in the monologue that is one of my biggest fears. So I think if I was watching without any knowledge of what it was, I’d be deeply uncomfortable. Hopefully some people has the same fear as me! In the nicest, safest possible way of course. It’s not real, in the end. Right?
Last question…what do you want people to take away from your writing?
Whatever they would like to. It’s not up to me to tell people what to think. It’s our job as writers to offer people a perspective on something, and for them to react to it. It’s that space we have to acknowledge, that there’s going to be some pieces that need to be put together by the audience. And, hopefully, that being a satisfying thing to do. But, at a push, I guess with this I would quite like them to go away feeling, at least a little bit, spooked out. It is a ghost story, after all!
Interview with Anne Odeke, writer of The Takeover
Anne Odeke is an actor, and emerging playwright.
As an actor Anne trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and over the course of her career has performed for the likes of Shakespeare’s Globe, the RSC, and at theatres such as The Birmingham Rep, The Watermill, The Royal Lyceum Edinburgh and many more. She has also just finished filming for the new upcoming BBC comedy series ‘Babies’.
As a playwright, Anne has written for Storyhouse Theatre, The Almeida and BBC Radio 4.
Her latest play, ‘Princess Essex‘ (in which Anne also played the lead) was performed on the main stage of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The play went on to be nominated for ‘Best New Play’ at the WhatsOnStage Awards 2025, and Anne was also nominated for ‘Best Performer in a Play’ alongside the likes of David Tennant and Tom Holland
Hi, thanks for taking the time for this interview! Let’s start easy – can you introduce yourself, tell me which story you have written, and a little bit about the story?
Hello. My name’s Anne Odeke, and I’m the writer of ‘The Takeover‘. It’s about a young lad (an Urban Explorer), who one night, rows out to a fort in the middle of the estuary, only for a possession to take place.
Do you normally find yourself writing content of a spookier nature? Is this the theme of the content you yourself like to consume, or was this a change in genre for you when writing the story?
I have never written a horror or ghost story in my life (!), so I’ll be honest with you, I was a tad anxious at first as the big question I had was, ‘Can you REALLY scare an audience with a theatre show??’. (I’m pleased to report that the answer is yes).
Also, whilst I respect Horror as a genre, I’m an absolute scaredy cat at heart, and so I never really watch it. Maybe two films a year??
Was there any particular inspiration behind the story, or did you start writing and then the story just evolved as you went?
I definitely knew I wanted it set in Essex, and out on the estuary. There’s just something about water that for me, I find utterly fascinating; how it can be both so beautiful and so violent at the drop of a hat.
How does it feel to have your writing being told on stage?
An honour. As a playwright, it always takes my breath away how a story in my head can suddenly sit in front of me. It’s a very strange but brilliant experience.
What are your hopes for your story being adapted for the stage? Is there anything in particular about the production you’re apprehensive about?
My hope is that the audience are scared; that they jump out of their seats, yell and grab the hand of the person next to them.
Last question…what do you want people to take away from your writing?
Simply put, ‘A communal experience, where people who have never met before, are bonded through the medium of storytelling’.
Interview with Rosa Torr, writer of Consequences of Diving Lots
Rosa Torr is a Norwich-based interdisciplinary writer and producer. Her writing credits include RATTUS RATTUS: the epic tale of man vs rat (Norfolk and Norwich Festival, National Centre for Writing), The Creation Station (First Light Festival), Sea Her (Directors Cut Theatre), Bump (TARA Arts, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Smock Alley Theatre). Rosa was also dramaturg/ producer on Gun to your Head (Vault Festival, and tour) and is a Co-Founder of DAKOTA COLLECTIVE.
Hi, thanks for taking the time for this interview! Let’s start easy – can you introduce yourself, tell me which story you have written, and a little bit about the story?
Hi. I’m a playwright and producer based in Norwich. I was on the HighTide writer’s group last year, and commissioned for the ghost story through that.
For EMGSBC, I wrote Consequences of Diving Lots, it’s the last of the four stories. It’s told by Alex, a facilities coordinator at Lynn Lots Personal Storage Lockup. It’s just been her first night shift. She’s only had one customer all night… She tells you how she spends her unobserved working hours…
Do you normally find yourself writing content of a spookier nature? Is this the theme of the content you yourself like to consume, or was this a change in genre for you when writing the story?
I am definitely drawn to uncanny, eerie or absurd work. Though I’ve never written a spooky ghost story for stage before, I think plays are always haunted by something or another. I really like writing sites for plays that gently push the engine of the play forward – who lived there before? who lives there now? who doesn’t have access? These feel akin to haunting.
Was there any particular inspiration behind the story, or did you start writing and then the story just evolved as you went?
I was struggling for a setting, which I think is always a good starting point for a ghost story. My best friend was going through a breakup and I had agreed to go to a self storage lockup to help her move her things out. It was supposed to be an act of selfless friendship, but you never know when inspiration will take hold. I had landed; getting lost in the identical maze corridors, the gentle hum of the air conditioning, the anonymity of each lot, the curiosity of what lies behind each door. (Don’t worry, we got all her moving done too).
My character is a teenager from King’s Lynn. I work with young people there, who are at risk of unemployment. I think they’re some of the best creatives I’ve worked with – curious, engaged, funny, brash, bright, streetwise, inventive. But in my position at work, I often can see the barriers getting in their way, how untrusted and undervalued they are at college or by potential employers. I wanted to show a character like this on stage, in all her glory and flaws, because I’m passionate that these young voices are represented on stage.
How does it feel to have your writing being told on stage?
It’s predominantly the most exciting thing in the world. Mostly because the Sarita, Elle and the creative team have worked such amazing magic on all the stories that I can sit back and enjoy the show (I still jump at all the stories even though I know what’s coming). Then there’s a bit of percentage of that enjoyment because I’m proud to have made something and put it out in the world. Then theres the other less positive part that won’t stop working – ‘should I have put that section there?’ ‘what if that came earlier?’ ‘I hope that woman on the front row is enjoying it’ ‘did that line hit like I wanted it to?’ ‘quick get out the toilet queue before someone says something about my words that I don’t want to hear’. But predominantly, it’s utterly wonderful!
What are your hopes for your story being adapted for the stage? Is there anything in particular about the production you’re apprehensive about?
I hope people leave feeling spooked. And I hope they leave thinking about the phenomenon of ghosts and what they reveal to us.
Last question…what do you want people to take away from your writing?
I always like my characters to be multifaceted – I like it when they can let themselves be a bit disgusting, I like when they’re both lovely and mean, I like when they can let both humour and horror in. I always hope this will mean that people feel like they’ve met a whole new person, that they’ll leave the theatre feeling like they just met someone new. If that happens, we empathise with them and their world, we try out new perspectives. Empathy makes stories important.
And there we have it! An insight into the minds behind these stories. These interviews have made me so intrigued by all their stories, and I am genuinely heartbroken that I myself will not get to see them on stage. It is clear from these interviews that there is so much more to the writing than just the genre of spookiness; as is usually the case with good stories, these writers’ work sounds so layered with a lot of ways audiences will be able to see themselves reflected. The love, enthusiasm and care for the stories is stark, and I think it will be a real treat to see how they all have been told on stage.
To find out more about this show and book tickets, click here: https://pentabus.co.uk/even-more-ghost-stories-candlelight-0
To read the first post with my interview with director Elle While, click here: https://oneshowatatime.co.uk/2025/10/25/theatre-news-interview-even-more-ghost-stories-by-candelight-heads-to-the-stage-an-interview-with-director-elle-while/
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