Those of a squeamish nature be warned of horror to come but also loud, unexpected noises, from thunder claps to gun shots to make you jump in your seat, in the startling comedy The Cat and the Canary, adapted by Carol Grose from the play by John Willard, at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre.

The comic antics of an energy-filled cast make the play enjoyable but you need to concentrate as, in between loud thunder claps, furniture and walls moving, secret passageways opening up, bodies disappearing then reappearing, lights going on and off, you try to follow the plot.

In the crumbling mansion of the late Cyrus West, his descendants - who Cyrus accused of watching like him like cats while he is the canary - attend his will reading. His vast fortune will go to his last living descendant called West, as long as they are sane.

It would be hard to judge from the various characters who is sane, as all have eccentricities, but inheriting Cyrus’s wealth is beautiful but frail Annabelle West (Lucy McCormick, hysterically perfect in the part).

As she moves into the mansion, she battles with horrors as the others try to destroy her sanity. One character introducing himself as Crosby (clever comedy by Nick Haverson), who also takes on several other roles, frightens terrified Annabelle by disappearing into a passage that appears in a secret door in the book case and, using powder and fake blood, reappearing as a ghoul.

Director Paul Hunter must have had his hands full directing this talented cast but has allowed them to cleverly deliver horror and comedy to create a night of ghoulish fun.

The Cat and the Canary runs until October 26.

Sheila Checkley