Two classic dark and spine-chilling ghost stories will be performed by a local amateur dramatics group in the south of the island later this week.

The Rushen Players will perform the ghostly Victorian tales, ’The Stalls of Barchester’ written by M R James, and ’The Monkey’s Paw, by W W Jacobs, at the Erin Arts Centre over two nights, on Thursday 24 and Friday, 25, February.

Both plays are classics of Gothic Victorian-era literature and are both labours of love for the director of both plays, Catie Angus.

’I just love the dark side’, said Catie.

’I used to read the stories of M.R.James and have always wanted to have a go at putting on a play based on one of his stories.

’M.R.James is now considered the best British ghost story writer by his followers, and the "Monkey’s Paw" is a very well-known classic tale of the genre.

’They both have threads running through them that are based on people dabbling and poking their noses in to where they shouldn’t, and of getting a bit more that you wish for in the end.’

’M.R.James’ stories in particular always seem to feature academics, clergy men or amateur academics who meddle in things that they shouldn’t.

’The Stalls of Barchester’ features a narrator who tells the story of an archdeacon who comes to a sticky end after investigating where he perhaps shouldn’t, and "The Monkey’s Paw" is a very well-known tale, where three wishes are granted to the owner of paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate.

’Its a cautionary tale of being careful of what you wish for, as thing’s don’t always work out as you’d imagine them to.’

’The Stalls of Barchester’ will feature just two main actors, with David Leiserach as the narrator, Dr Black, and Brian Matthews as the Archdeacon.

’The Monkey’s Paw’ will star Sharon and Graham Roberts and Robert Clayton, along with Brian Matthew again as the sergeant major who returns from the east with the cursed object.

Catie came up with the idea of performing the plays during the lockdowns last year, as a way of keeping the group busy.

’These were all stories were familiar to us, and they were works that we had in front of us, and that didn’t require us to learn lots of lines, which made them ideal to work on while being stuck at home.

’I have always wanted to do the plays

’With the work of M.R.James,’ she added.

’The Rushen Players did perform one of his stories as a monologue many years ago, but that is slightly different to this.

’James’ stories are quite wordy, so we had to do a bit of chopping and changing to make it work on the stage.

’Hopefully, we will get the atmosphere right and people will get nice and scared.’

Tickets are £10, for each night, available from the Erin Arts Centre box office, or online from erinartscentre.com