During the pandemic when the theatre was closed, we had a ‘ghost light’ on stage. This is a theatre tradition, where a light is left on in the centre of the stage when the theatre is ‘dark’. There is a practical element to this tradition, making sure the stage was safely lit to avoid accidents, such as falling off the edge into the orchestra pit.

But this tradition also has a slight superstition to it. Older theatres are notorious for having a ghostly presence, so the ghost light allows ghosts in the theatre to perform on stage when there is no-one else in the building. This is meant to please the ghosts so they don’t cause havoc and sabotage shows.

The Playhouse is very spooky to walk around and staff have had many surreal experiences, especially working there late at night, so we wanted to tell you some stories we’ve been told by staff and audience members.

For some context, the Playhouse (previously The Star Music Hall) is a Victorian theatre and was originally built in 1866, named after a pub on the same site called The Star Inn.

The main ghost who is said to haunt the Playhouse is that of a woman named Elizabeth, a cleaner at the venue. In 1897, when it was a music hall and variety theatre, Elizabeth was on stage, going about her usual cleaning duties when the fire iron came down on stage and struck her. She fell into the orchestra pit and broke her neck.

Despite her death being recorded as an accident, the fire iron at the time was water powered, and needed someone to operate it. Elizabeth’s ghost is said to haunt the theatre’s gallery level, specifically the seat A5, which is always cold and spooky.

When locking up in the past, Front of House staff have allegedly seen a gentleman in a stove pipe hat running down the fire exit from the Gallery level. They follow him down, but there is nobody there. The exit only leads out onto Williamson Square.

The story behind it is that years ago, a man took his daughter in a red dress to see a show at the Playhouse. He went to the toilet and when he came back she was gone. He is supposed to be looking for her ever since.

When contractors were refurbishing the Liverpool Playhouse in 1999, the workmen famously downed tools, being so scared to continue after numerous odd happenings and sightings of what they believed to be ghosts.

The electricians reported several creepy incidents whist working on the wiring, including taps mysteriously being switched on, a ‘presence’ in the basement and heavy doors that were difficult to open slamming shut.

Former house-keepers Marie and Eileen tell of an 'experience' when cleaning the Playhouse some years ago...

One day Marie was cleaning the dressing rooms – J and K – which in those days were locked with a key. She cleaned J, locked it, went to put something back on her cleaning trolley and came back to clean K and saw that the door to J was open. She locked it again. Cleaned K and went back to the cleaning trolley. J was open again and so was K.

Marie couldn’t figure it out and went to find Eileen to ask if she’d been along and opened the doors. She hadn’t been anywhere near. In the end, Marie gave both rooms a good “talking to”, and everything was fine.

Since then, there's not been too many 'ghostly appearances', although we've staged a number of spooky shows - the world premieres of Ghost Stories and The Haunting of Hill House , with The Woman in Black returning for Christmas 2023.