If you spend enough time in the theater, you're bound to pick up a few superstitions. "Break a leg," always keep the Ghost Light burning, and it's "The Scottish Play" not Macbeth, thank you very much. If you fail to honor the traditions, you're show might just go to shit... or worse. Such is the set up for the new dark comedy Ghost Light, which finds a troupe of theater actors besieged by "witches, ghosts and murder-mayhem" after an actor decides the superstitions are just a bunch of baloney.

Directed by John Stimpson, Ghost Light stars a delightful ensemble of familiar faces including Roger Bart, Carol Kane, Cary Elwes, Shannyn Sossamon, Danielle Campbell, and Tom Riley. Ghost Light will premiere at the LA Film Festival on September 22. Watch our exclusive trailer debut below.

Here's the official synopsis for Ghost Light:

Nothing is more sacred to true Shakespearian actors than “The Scottish Play,” which demands a deep reverence to always be exhibited both onstage and off during a performance. Except the reverence from ennui-engulfed Tom Riley is a bit lacking, to say the least. He’s in love with the beautiful Liz Beth, wife of pompous ham Alex Pankhurst. Liz and Alex are playing—respectively—Lady Macbeth and Macbeth in the small stage production they’re preparing for their local New England theatre. And Liz loves Tom back. Also: Tom wants to play Macbeth. Their underfoot costars make it almost impossible to be alone, until Tom decides that the Scottish Curse so oft mentioned by actors is just baloney. That’s when the witches, ghosts and murder-mayhem really get started and Tom, Liz Beth and everyone else, find themselves trapped in a stage play nightmare, albeit a hilarious one.

 

Ghost Light is a dark comedy with provocative and near-perfect production design and special effects. Director Stimpson executes what must be one of the most impressive stage versions of Macbeth ever portrayed on or off-camera, while his cast of characters undergo their own private Shakespearean problems, culminating in a mesh of the fantastic and tragic with just enough comedy to keep the audience from being scared away from productions of Macbeth for the rest of their lives.