Need help?Contact us
This production is recommended for ages 15+.
Performance Dates
11 August - 7 November 2026
Run time: 2hrs
Includes interval
21 reviews
Blending psychological tension, supernatural terror, and heart-pounding suspense, Paranormal Activity brings the global horror phenomenon to the stage in a gripping, live event. Haunting the Ambassadors Theatre for a strictly limited time, only the fearless need book Paranormal Activity tickets.
James and Lou have left Chicago behind for a fresh start in London - a new home, a new life, and a chance to forget the darkness that once haunted them. But as night falls, strange sounds echo through the house, objects move on their own, and the couple’s sleep is shattered by a growing sense of dread.
Determined to uncover the truth, James sets up cameras to document the unexplained. What begins as a simple experiment soon spirals into a chilling descent into obsession, fear, and the unknown. As the line between reality and nightmare blurs, the couple discovers a horrifying truth: places aren’t haunted - people are.
This production is recommended for ages 15+. The production contains loud noises, sudden darkness, blood and gore with references to mental health.
Latecomers policy: there is no entry for latecomers and no readmittance if leaving the auditorium after the show has started.
A stage show inspired by the Paranormal Activity movies, the seven-strong movie franchise which began in 2007 with a movie originally shot for less than $15,000 but which was then picked up by DreamWorks and eventually netted almost $200 million.
Don’t be too quick to judge. Writer Levi Holloway comes up with a new story but cleverly pays homage to the original as James and Lou try to leave behind the past and move from Chicago to the UK, only to discover that, however lightly you pack, you can’t ever leave your ghosts behind.
No, really, this is pretty classy stuff and well worth your time. It’s not Shakespeare, but not all theatre has to be Shakespeare, and this is cleverly executed entertainment which racks up the tension with impeccable skill. Fly Davis's design offers a box of tricks which is then used smartly for Chris Fisher’s illusions; Gareth Fry’s sound design is just so, and it’s directed with real technical aplomb by Felix Barrett.
One and the same. Which is interesting because there is much to suggest that all of Punchdrunk’s large-scale shows are an exercise in creating atmosphere and tension with clever technical effects. In a Punchdrunk show, rooms, even the apparently empty ones, are haunted whether by absence or by the ghosts of those who come before. Punchdrunk’s shows play on a loop in which sequences are repeated over the duration of several hours, so effectively the show ghosts itself. Oh, and of course almost 20 years ago Barrett made It Felt Like a Kiss for the Manchester International Festival, a show which turned rumbling anxiety into all-out terror. It’s the one and only time in the theatre when I’ve been chased by a man wielding an axe.
I think you should reconsider. There are a couple of scary moments, but unlike others in the genre (I mean, even The Woman in Black is reliant on one quite brilliant jump scare), this isn’t a show which sees its sole purpose as making your heart beat faster. It is quieter and more unnerving than that. It is a show with a built-in delayed gratification mechanism. It genuinely confounds and surprises with its technical flair, and it is as much about the ghosts that haunt a marriage as any that haunt a house.
28 Jul, 2026 | By Lyn Gardner
Plunged into pitch black nothingness, we listen to a softly spoken radio host. She asks us questions and asks us to question our answers. Under her instructions we then meditate as a group. We breathe in, we breathe out, we breathe in, we breathe out, we breathe in, and then we hold it for the next two hours…
This isn’t the first time audiences have had their nerves tested at the Ambassadors, Andy Nyman’s Olivier nominated Ghost Stories haunted the Edwardian theatre six years ago, while last year’s Enfield Haunting had people fearing for their lives (though, perhaps not in the way they were hoping…). It’s 2025, the frost is creeping in and the ghosts are back. However this time it is the people that are haunted, not the place. There is no escape for the new homeowners, James (Patrick Heusinger) and Lou (Melissa James).
The show's title may be familiar, but the story won’t be. Set in the same world as the 2007 film, this Paranormal Activity follows an American couple, James and Lou, as they move to London to escape their demons. It is only when they arrive that they realise that the paranormal won’t be shaken-off so easily.
18 Dec, 2025 | By Sian McBride