Hull New Theatre – until 18th May 2024
Reviewed by Dawn Bennett
5*****
Normally I’m a bit nervous watching scary shows, television programmes or films. I’m definitely a person who would be found hiding behind their hands or a cushion. But 2:22 A Ghost Story was so good I didn’t want to miss a thing!
Writer Danny Robins story is of Jenny (Fiona Wade) her husband Sam (George Rainsford) who have moved into an old house along with their baby daughter. The house is a doer-upper and they have been doing a lot of work on it. Jenny is spooked by being in the house without Sam who is away for work in Sark. At 2:22 in the morning for the last 4 days the baby monitor has picked up footsteps and crying in their daughter’s bedroom and when Jenny goes into the room there is no one, apart from her daughter in there. Jenny hasn’t been able to contact Sam, so when he arrives home saying that he lost his phone she is not pleased to say the least, especially when he doesn’t believe what has been happening. Sams friend from University, Lauren (Vera Chok), and her builder boyfriend Ben (Jay McGuiness) arrive at the house for dinner, to meet the baby and see what they have done to the house. Jenny tells the others what has been happening at 2:22 every night, they seem to be very sceptical and after a lot of persuasion and some scary goings on they decide to stay up to see it happens again.
The set designer (Anna Fleischle), lighting designer (Lucy Carter) and sound design (Ian Dickinson) really set the atmosphere, which was spooky and sometimes downright terrifying and made me and the rest of the audience jump more than I thought it would! What with screams, darkness, pulsing red lights around the stage there was nervous laughter from the audience, after each jump scare, and a lot of that was from me!
The acting was brilliant and the actors made their characters very believable. They are a very strong cast and the 4 of them (along with 2 other company members Aaron Dart and Rachel Morris) were on stage for most of the production.
I will not spoil this superb show by telling you what happened, you really need to go and see it yourself. I cannot recommend this production enough; it keeps your attention from beginning to end and I can guarantee you will be talking about it long after you leave the theatre, but please don’t give away the ending… as the company says “Sshh don’t tell” ….