2:22 A Ghost Story
Liverpool Empire but on tour via https://222aghoststory.com
Main Cast - Vera Chok, Jay McGuinness, George Rainsford, Fiona Wade
Jenny believes her new home is haunted, but her husband Sam isn’t having any of it. They argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and new partner Ben. Can the dead really walk again? Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening, and that something is getting closer. So they’re going to stay up until 2:22….and then they’ll know.
Everyone at some point has to ask themselves - do you believe in ghosts? The judgement you make means you’re taking a stance on the nature of reality. It raises all sorts of questions - what happens after death? Is rationality the only thing going? Will I tell people what I believe? In the play 2:22 A Ghost Story by Danny Robbins a domestic situation where four friends gather for an evening in becomes a tense and increasingly ominous question is are they in a haunted house?
Jenny and Sam are a newly married couple now in their new home being decorated with their newly born baby now. While Sam was away Lauren has found the house increasingly feeling like she’s not alone. A feeling of being watched; footsteps and even a man crying. Everything is also timed to the same time 2:22am. Sam has returned and tonight entertains his old uni friend Lauren and her new boyfriend Ben. Jenny explains what is happening and arch sceptic Sam tried to debunk it. The others though are more ambivalent and have their own stories to tell as the night goes on these characters will be finding out many secrets and 2:22 gets ever closer.
This is a very smart and engaging production giving us a 21st century approach to ghosts. The set is one big living room of a newly refurbished house yet to be quite finished. Above everyone is a digital clock - we first see Jenny alone painting and soon experience what 2:22 can result in. The story plays with time and we jump to the later evening dinner party of four people who actually all represent different ideas on belief.
The story works well as Robbin’s characters all share their thoughts and theories on ghosts. Jenny a once very religious woman now rather worried her baby is in danger. Sam is an astronomer with a rational answer for EVERYTHING who has a sense of humour but also not quiet ever knowing when he’s gone too far. Lauren a clinical psychologist both knows the power of the mind and has her own life experiences to share. The final really interesting character is Ben a builder slightly an outsider from a working class family and lifestyle who has his own more believer focused approach.
What makes it work is that the group ably played by the cast can move from humour to drama to horror very swiftly. The audience relaxes into jokes and then we all take a breath at some sinister event or revelation. The clock sitting above the cast gives a countdown feel as we jump a few hours with each scene. The play explores the fractures in these characters and their relationships giving us different impressions of them to whom they all initially seem to be.
The key mystery of what is going on is played with from simple jokes to the use of modern ones like Alexa. There is a logic across the play that draws to a very fine finale that will make you revisit all you’ve witnessed. All the cast bring their best to the play and it’s allowing a huge range of emotions to be explored.
Whatever your own view on ghosts this is a very entertaining drama that keeps the audience on their toes and has many secrets to tell. Strongly recommended
The national tour continues and more information is at https://222aghoststory.com/uk-tour-cast-2024/
