[Event Review] 2:22 A Ghost Story

The audience settles, the lights dim.. A woman tidies her house absentmindedly, as her baby stirs and mutters over the monitor. She pauses, listens to the child, glances at the clock, and continues to keep herself busy. It’s early morning, around 2:17AM. The woman decides to start painting a door frame, trying to stay distracted from whatever is on her mind. Another time check, 2:21AM. She stops, turns off the lights, and heads upstairs. The audience watches as the clock changes to 2:22AM, a piercing scream erupts from the stage, red flashes of light, blackout. 

From the beginning, 2:22 sets a tone that will haunt you for the rest of the show. Married couple Jenny and Sam invite guests over for dinner, Sam’s old university pal Lauren and her new boyfriend Ben. As they chat, it is revealed that whilst Sam was away on a business trip, Jenny experienced some strange occurrences in their new home; creaking floorboards, footsteps, the sound of an adult crying in their new-born daughter’s room. These disturbing events have all been happening at exactly 2:22AM. Jenny asks that the dinner guests stay until that time so that she can prove to her husband that it’s not just her mind playing tricks, and that it really is happening. All agree to stick around, and thus begins a night of tension and intrigue.

The show was created by the brilliant Danny Robins, who also made one of my favourite BBC Four podcasts of last year, The Battersea Poltergeist. His talent for writing not only horror, but human stories, really shines through in 2:22. This is not just a play about being haunted, it’s about the breakdown of relationships, of secrets untold and of regrets. 

The actors in this run of 2:22 were superb. I cannot think of a single criticism for any of them. Unfortunately, due to an injury, Giovanna Fletcher was not playing Jenny on the night that I saw the show. Instead her understudy, Rhiannon Handy took on the role with incredible ease. As the night progressed, Handy spiralled into a performance of unbridled hysteria, the thought of her husband not believing her when their daughter could be in danger gave real justification to her actions. 

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Stephanie Beatriz was phenomenal as Lauren. Proving once again that she is an exceptionally transformative actress, Beatriz showed no hint of her famous roles such as Rosa in Brooklyn Nine Nine or Mirabel in Encanto. Her character Lauren had many layers to unravel, which gave Beatriz a chance to portray so many of her skills, ranging from comedy to tragedy. A truly surprising choice for me was James Buckley as Ben. The actor is most famously known for his character Jay in The Inbetweeners, which, although Buckley was getting laughs throughout the performance, is a far sight from his role in 2:22. Ben is new to the group, he tries so hard to get along with Lauren’s friends but can see the divide between himself and Sam, particularly in their class status and assumed intelligence. Buckley plays this role in a way that feels like you’re talking to an old friend, creating a familiarity with him from the beginning which means that you can’t help but be drawn in by his charisma… and his ghost stories. Finally, Sam, played by Elliot Cowan, is the much-needed sceptic of the group. Although he comes across as quite crass and rude at times, Sam pushes the others to see the logic in the situation, churning up debate on whether this phenomenon can be explained by the wind, or interference on the baby monitor, or even the foxes screaming outside in the garden.  

As someone who loves horror theatre with a passion (I will never get over the terror of Ghost Stories by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, as a theatre show it was flawless),  2:22 is an incredibly written piece, however the scares are a little overused and predictable by the end. It uses the dialogue to lull the audience into a false sense of comfort before interrupting with loud noises, leading everyone to be quite on edge throughout the performance. Regardless of this, it is still an amazing piece of horror as well as being extremely upsetting (something that I cannot talk about unless I want to spoil the entire premise). 

Sadly 2:22 ended on the 12th February but it has recently been announced that it will return again in May 2022! With the success of this run and the previous (which starred Lily Allen), I hope that this show makes a return to the Westend soon, as I would recommend it to anyone that will listen – a modern tragedy with traditional ghostly themes.

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