Get ready to question what’s really real or not in new psychological thriller play premiering in York.
The Psychic, the new play from League of Gentlemen and Ghost Stories creators Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, is less than a week away from its world premiere at York Theatre Royal.
Ahead of its premiere, YorkMix caught up with one of the stars to find out more about this twisted new thriller that will bring thrills, laughs and shocks back to the stage.
Following the international success of Ghost Stories, Dyson and Nyman return with a new dark thriller which follows the story of popular TV psychic Sheila Gold.
Popular TV psychic Sheila Gold loses a high-profile court case, which brands her a charlatan. It costs her not only her reputation, but a fortune in legal fees. When a wealthy couple ask Sheila to conduct a séance to attempt to make contact with their late child, Sheila senses an opportunity to bleed them for money.
What follows makes her question everything she’s ever believed and leads her on a journey into the darkest corners of her life.
YorkMix chatted with one of the stars of the play, Megan Placito, to find out more about what to expect from this tantalising new show.
This will be Megan’s stage debut, and her film credits include Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare (for which she won Best Actress for National Film Awards UK), Decode Me and The Salt Path, and TV credits include Father Brown. She trained at ArtsEd and graduated in 2021.
Alongside Megan, who plays Tara, the cast includes Frances Barber (Rosa), Eileen Walsh (Sheila Gold), Dave Hearn (Robert Hamm), Jaz Singh Deol (Deepak), Nikhita Lesler (Nisha), and Charlie Blanshard (Mark).
The Psychic will begin performances from 29 April 2026, and run until 23 May 2026. Tickets for start from £15 and are available via the York Theatre Royal website.
Q&A with Megan Placito
What can you tell us about The Psychic and your character, Tara?
So, The Psychic we’re not allowed to say too much, but my character, Tara, has quite a big journey in the play – probably one of the biggest journeys of all the characters we meet. Tara is a young, 18 year old girl, she’s confident, very cocky, fearless and feisty. She’s got a lot of dreams, and she wants to follow them. Then she meets Sheila, and her path derails, to go on this journey following Sheila’s footsteps.
As the play goes on, we learn that even though Tara comes across like this very strong, tough exterior, she does carry so much fear, and what a lot of teenage girls feel like; self doubt, insecurities – we start to see that come through. There’s lots of twists and turns with her – you don’t really know which way she’s going to go with things. So she’s quite an unpredictable character, but also very intelligent.
It’s so fun to play this part – there’s so many different layers I get to play, it’s brilliant.
This play is designed to be quite scary – and sometimes quite disturbing – but I think within those moments there is humour and lightness, and Jeremy (Dyson) and Andy (Nyman) are such brilliant writers, that’s why this play’s so good, because it’s just not one thing, it encapsulates human life so well.
It’s a really human play, and it’s about a specific subgroup of people which haven’t really been looked at. So it’s looking at like the Showmen community, and these people and their lives and how they work, how they are, how they behave, which is a really cool insight to have.
Not only is The Psychic a world premiere play, but it’s also your stage debut – how does the combination of that feel?
It honestly hasn’t sunken in. I just have to pinch myself! I said to my agent, I want to do theatre – I respect the craft so much and the people who do it so much – for me, that was always going to be the next step for me to become a better actor: to be in theatre.
So it’s nice for me to start with this play, which is also new, because I feel like I’m growing with the play. It’s been quite a collaborative project too, which has been amazing. As actors, we’ve had a lot of choice into some of the directions and what to say. So it does feel like The Psychic and myself with my stage debut are growing together.
That’s great it’s been a collaborative process – is there a lot of trust within the creative team and cast?
Oh my god, yes. Andy Nyman, he’s an actor, so he knows how to talk to actors and give them notes which they can take on themselves. As well as Jeremy, he’s incredible, his writing is so accessible. And the cast have been amazing – working with Frances Barber and Eileen Walsh, I feel like I’m learning so much from them and they’ve really taken me under their wing. I feel like I’ve just been able to be in a space where I’m allowed to be brave and have fun.
Are you looking forward to being in York?
Yes! I came once before for the York Horror Fest which was last June, and that was really fun – I got to meet a lot of the Yorkshire horror fans, everyone was so lovely. And last year I only had a day here, so it’s been nice to come back to York and see a little bit more of it. I really want to soak up a little bit more history, and maybe do a ghost walk. Even though people say York is a spooky town, I think it’s so beautiful and feels very calm here – which is a good place to be when you’re doing a show full of adrenaline! I’ve loved going into the Museum Gardens, and me and the cast want to go on a boat ride and we’ve had a walk around the walls, and we found the lovely pub Grays Court Hotel.
I also want to explore outside of York too, a little bit more of the countryside – I’d like to have my Wuthering Heights moment!
Why should people come and see The Psychic – what can they look forward to?
This show is not what you think it’s going to be, and the minute you do think you know what it’s going to be, it changes again. I think you’re going to be on a roller coaster ride adventure.
It also means a lot to me this play, hearing these Showmen words – it’s where my family comes from, on my mum side, they’re Showmen. Hearing this dialect spoken means a lot, and it’s very empowering. This is a matriarchal show.
It’s empowering, it’s scary, it’s frightening, it’s harrowing. I think you’re gonna leave feeling shaken in more ways than one.
