A Ghost Among the Living opens as a lecture, where an academic will take us through the stories of Edgar Allen Poe. He exudes bonhomie as he outlines his vast knowledge of Poe’s work – but there’s a discordant note in his aside that it’s been a long time since he did this alone. It is not long before he becomes unnerved, and we all can see what he sees too: a ghost is here, entering the auditorium from the back, singing a haunting melody and keeping her eyes locked on him with a chilling stare.

The lecture takes us through five of Poe’s pieces. Our narrator (Noel Byrne) begins with the story of The Tell Tale Heart, opening in classic Box Tale Soup style as the lectern turns into a puppet stage. But the ghost (Antonia Christophers) chips in with to the story and we see his unease grow. Through The Cask of Amontillado and excerpts from The Raven, the ingenuity of the production brings gasps of delight from the audience as props come to life or morph into something else. All along the ghost inserts herself more and more into the storytelling, and the themes the narrator pulls from Poe’s work apply equally to him: ‘The tomb isn’t final for Poe, rising from the dead, obsession becomes resurrection’.

Box Tale Soup are rightly known for the intricate and clever sets, props and puppetry, and phenomenal attention to detail. But there is also a mastery of mood as the stories progress; the bonhomie fades and the dark tales cast ever more ominous shadows. Every year it seems they bring a new talent to the fore, and this time it is the strength and intensity of Christophers’ voice as her singing haunts our narrator. There is also the sophistication of the power dynamics as we witness a gradual transfer of the role of storyteller.

Ghost Among the Living is a complete piece of theatre, and it joins a long list of wonderful shows from this company. Box Tale Soup are as close to a sure-fire hit as it is possible to get at the Fringe.