ONE of the ironies of ghost stories is that we love to be scared by them, but they’re so difficult to do well on stage.

The only successful ones on stage that readily spring to mind are The Woman in Black and Dickens’ The Signalman.

Neither has humour involved, but their sense of tension is palpable. Margaret Wilkinson’s play, Queen Bee, is a brave attempt to straddle two genres by trying to introduce comedy and horror.

The setting is a rundown Gothic mansion, home of Angel (Rachel Donavan), an agoraphobic cared for by her housekeeper, Eusapia.

It’s a power relationship, with Eusapia (Joanna Holden) feeding Angel “special”

medicine and ensuring she is dependent on her emotionally.

Angel’s the queen bee who never leaves the hive.

The duo, who spend their time telling each other stories of murder, suicide and decapitation, are joined by psychiatric nurse Ruth (Karen Traynor), whose intentions are good, but her presence has disturbed the status quo of the house.

The house creaks a lot, lights flicker and we hear a number of fireside horror stories, but it’s an in-your-face, linear story with little sense of tension or scope for imagination.

It always felt like watching three women on stage trying too hard to scare us, rather than being sucked in and catapulted into the unknown.

Not a lot actually happens and when it does, the impact is lost by the actors screeching. A seance scene, which could have given greater dramatic depths, was played as a farce.

The set, however, was excellent. But The Signalman and The Woman in Black barely have sets – they played to the imagination and fear of the unknown.

■ Queen Bee tours to Northern Stage, Newcastle, May 13-16, 0191-230-5151; Queens Hall Arts Centre, Hexham, May 18-19, 01434- 652477 and Darlington Arts Centre, May 20-22, 01325- 486555.

Ed Waugh