Festival Theatre, Edinburgh- until 30th September 2023
Reviewed by Marcus
4****
It’s the show of the moment, everyone seems to have seen it or heard about it. So what’s the deal? I’ve always loved horror theatre, the iconic ‘Woman in Black’ and ‘Ghost Stories’ have been some of the best shows I’ve ever seen. 2:22 A Ghost Story deserves its place alongside these shows. Throughout the show I jumped, had goosebumps, and felt constantly uneasy.
A cast of four actors makes use of the intimate staging. The busy space is the home of Jenny and Sam, played by Louisa Lytton and Nathaniel Curtis respectively. The stage takes us on a journey to somewhere very real. An ordinary (obviously mid-renovation) home and an ordinary gathering of friends. A mirror image of everyday life. Throughout the show, that sense of normality is snatched away with no notice, and the highly unordinary supernatural takes over. A clock placed on the stage, counting down the hours and minutes to 2:22 constantly increases the unease and tension. You know something big is coming, but don’t know what. This is what made watching the show so chilling for me, this constant reminder glowing at us in the haunting red digital clock. The jump scares throughout actually serve to give the audience a break from the tension, preventing the story from becoming unbearable.
Alongside Lytton and Curtis, you have Joe Absolom playing Ben, and Charlene Boyd playing Lauren. Initially, the characters felt a little bit too caricature-ish. It shortly became clear, however, that the big personalities make the characters shine, and the actors did a good job of handling these roles. Boyd, a Scottish actress, played an American person who likes the odd glass of wine or two. Well, actually, any glass she can pick up. It was such a pleasure to watch how she progresses in the drunken state, from humour to horror. Curtis deftly plays a know-it-all, with an answer for everything. Science as absolute law. The character is deeply unlikable, but Curtis’ performance was my favourite of the show. Absolom and Lytton both also did such a phenomenal job. Absolom played the partner of Lauren, a builder who has a skill for communicating with the dead. Lytton played a distressed new mother, looking to protect her daughter from the ghost that is haunting her house. The large personalities of the characters contrasted and complemented each other, going from argument to laughter to argument again.
This tour of 2:22 will be making its way across the UK until June 2024, and I would highly recommend looking on their website to see if the show is coming to a theatre near you. It’s an enjoyable show which at times is hilarious, haunting, and straight-up shocking. It will be in Edinburgh for a few more days but is returning to Scotland in November, making a stop in Glasgow.