Things that go bump: 2:22 – A Ghost Story plays at the West End’s Criterion theatre
With Halloween celebrations underway, Danny Robins’s spine-tingling play 2:22 – A Ghost Story will make the perfect viewing to get your share of wintery chills, writes Molly Pavord.
Back by popular demand since August 2022, with a renewed cast including Laura Whitmore, Felix Scott, Matt Willis and Tamsin Caroll, 2:22- A Ghost Story transforms the West End’s Criterion theatre into the seemingly comforting domestic home of a couple hosting a dinner party.
The play has been running for more than a year, seeing the likes of Lily Allen, Jake Wood and Tom Felton take to its stage.
It will be moving to the Lyric Theatre from January 8, 2023.
Revolving around a young mother’s fears after spending three nights alone in a new house while her husband, Sam is away on a business trip, the play brilliantly interweaves domestic issues, philosophical debates, and light-hearted humour under the subtle guise of a simple ghost story.
At 2:22 each night, Jenny, played by Laura Whitmore, hears a ghost creeping into her baby daughter’s room.
When the couple hosts a light-hearted dinner party, with Sam’s university friend Lauren (Tamsin Caroll) and her new beau Ben (Matt Willis), tensions arise between the two couples and Jenny’s outburst in fear results in the group deciding to stay up to 2:22 to see what happens.
Felix Ross is excellent as the insufferable Sam who is tyrannical in his scientific understanding of the world and refuses to open his mind to the idea of ghosts even when all the clues start to add up.
Matt Willis’s Ben on the other hand provides much-needed moments of comic relief, appearing on stage as a cockney geezer who experienced an exorcism as a young boy and believes he was reincarnated from the French Revolution, much to Sam’s dismay.
Moments of comedy, tension or drama are frequently interrupted by the deafening sound of foxes screaming which propels the audience from their complacency back into a state of fright.
As the red digital clock looming over the actors hauntingly ticks its way to 2:22, the audience is swept away on Jenny’s journey, amounting to a crescendo of panic towards the end.
Usually with thrillers, the excitement wanes once the fear of the unknown disintegrates, however, with ‘2:22- A Ghost Story’ this was certainly not the case.
Your jaw will be on the floor by the time the curtains close and the stage displays a final message: ‘Shhh, please don’t tell!”
Website: 2:22 A Ghost Story – Criterion Theatre – London
Pictured: Laura Whitmore as Jenny, Felix Scott as Sam. Picture: Helen Murray
Everyone at the South London Press thanks you for your continued support.
Former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has encouraged everyone in the country who can afford to do so to buy a newspaper, and told the Downing Street press briefing:
“A FREE COUNTRY NEEDS A FREE PRESS, AND THE NEWSPAPERS OF OUR COUNTRY ARE UNDER SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL PRESSURE”
If you can afford to do so, we would be so grateful if you can make a donation which will allow us to continue to bring stories to you, both in print and online. Or please make cheques payable to “MSI Media Limited” and send by post to South London Press, Unit 112, 160 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 2NZ
