Review of The Psychic at York Theatre Royal

Long before the curtain even came up on the world premiere of The Psychic it had the air of one of this year’s must sees. This is after all a production overflowing with creative heft.

The brainchild of Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, whose last production Ghost Stories was box office gold, their latest show – part homage to fairground entertainment, part pointed jibe at psychic con artists – promises “plot twists, secrets and reveals”. And for those not swayed by theatrical gimmickry, it also offers the chance to see acting great Frances Barber adding a layer of stardust to proceedings.

To protect the magic, reviewers at the York Theatre Royal premiere were given a final reminder not to unleash any spoilers. It is difficult to live up to so much hype, even more so when the much talked of illusions and jump scares – occasional banshee screech aside – fail to actually materialise.

The play itself is interesting enough. Opening as Britain’s best loved psychic Sheila Gold (Eileen Walsh) has just lost a court case exposing her as a charlatan. Walsh is in sparkling form as the slightly world weary performer in one last ditch to save her career and recoup the lost legal fees.

In the opening scenes the York audience is momentarily transformed into Gold’s devotees, grieving relatives desperate for confirmation that their loved ones have gone to a better place. That is where the interaction ends as Gold becomes torn between the demands of her young cousin Tara (Megan Placito) who is desperate to be trained in the art of clairvoyance and life and her estranged mother Rosa – Barber is in superb form as the sweary matriarch.

At the heart of The Psychic is an absorbing family drama but one which, on its initial run at least, remains slightly overshadowed by the promise of theatrical wizardry, which like Gold’s claims to be able to contact the dead are nothing more than a hollow promise.

To May 23.