Blackpool Grand Theatre – until Saturday 27 April 2024
Reviewed by Debra Skelton
5*****
If you feel like an evening of ghost stories, the supernatural and suspense, then The Grand Theatre Blackpool has just what you need and that is ‘2:22 A Ghost Story’ produced by Runway Entertainment which is showing until Saturday 27th April 2024.
2:22 A Ghost Story is a thriller play by Danny Robins which premiered in the West End in 2021 and was nominated for three Laurence Olivier Awards in 2022, including Best New Play and Best Actress. The premiere production was also nominated for four WhatsOnStage Awards winning Best New Play, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor.
The story is about Jenny (Rachel Morris covering Fiona Wade) a typical new mum who is burnt out, highly stressed and looking for support from her husband Sam (George Rainsford). One source of her anxiety is from the eery sounds that have been coming through the baby monitor in her daughter’s room @ precisely 2:22am over the last three nights. To help Jenny alleviate her fears, she sets up a vigil with Sam’s old friend Lauren (Vera Chok) and her builder-boyfriend (Jay McGuiness) who have come to visit, to stay awake until the allotted time to see if the ghost returns.
This does not go down well with Sam as the idea of catching the ghost that Jenny thinks is haunting their daughter makes him actively hostile due to his scepticism and therefore spends most of the night highlighting his own rationality at the expense of his wife’s patience. Lauren, who is a psychologist, isn’t unsympathetic to Jenny’s fears but still tends to think all horrors are based in the mind. The only believer is Ben as he had a paranormal experience as a child.
As to the end of the story, this I cannot reveal as it would spoil the surprise which I can say is not what I was expecting at all, so please do go see the show as you will not be disappointed.
Huge applause must go to Fiona, George, Vera and Jay who I feel must have a huge amount of pressure on them with being such a small cast but they provided a superb portrayal of their characters with an interjection of humour when required which entertained the audience from start to finish.
Special thanks are also needed to Matthew Dunster and Isabel Marr the Director’s, Anna Fleischle the Set Designer, Ian Dickinson for the eerie, scary, and jumping out of your seat sounds, Lucy Carter for the spooky lighting and Chris Fisher for the incredible illusions.