2:22 – A Ghost Story (NHB Modern Plays)

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On 10 February 2023, it was announced that the play will embark on a UK tour starting at the Theatre Royal, Bath on 1 September with dates until May 2024. The show was also nominated for four WhatsOnStage Awards, and won Best New Play, Best Actress for Allen and Best Supporting Actor for Wood.

After discussing the strange noises, Jenny persuades the others to stay up until 2:22am to see what happens. It’s a sin star Nathaniel Curtis and EastEnders Louisa Lytton head to Norwich Theatre Royal in the spine-tingling play 2:22 A Ghost Story. The design itself feels otherworldly, its gaping chasm between kitchen and living room unsettlingly off, but in a way that creeps into the audience's consciousness. Norwich Theatre Royal, Playhouse and Stage Two are part of Norwich Theatre, the operating name of Theatre Royal (Norwich) Trust Limited. Felton’s commitment to the smart-ass Sam assuages those fears and the audience easily relaxes into believing his ‘better than you’ role.The script by Danny Robins, who created the popular podcast drama “The Battersea Poltergeist,” strains the considerable talents of the American cast that has been assembled. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. This production would star Constance Wu as Jenny, Anna Camp as Lauren, Adam Rothenberg as Ben, Finn Wittrock as Sam, and recast the setting to Boston. Before “Night Must Fall” and “Wait Until Dark” had moviegoers on the edge of their seats, they were hit plays. London's must-see supernatural thriller to make Australian Premiere at Her Majesty's Theatre in July 2023".

SAM gets to the point in the story where the family have tiptoed into the cave and spotted something in the dark… JENNY turns the monitor off. Ben suggests a seance to make contact with the spirit asking it to point out the person in the room who is most related to it, which only causes Sam to be further infuriated as the table on which they conduct it begins to move towards him violently, setting part of the kitchen on fire. S. premiere of “2:22 – A Ghost Story,” which debuted in London’s West End last year, seems determined to make theatrical fright nights fashionable again. The box office record-breaking run at the Lyric starring Cheryl, Jake Wood, Scott Karim, and Louise Ford, concluded its run on 23 April. Sam and Ben (Joe Absolom) are both abrasive characters, equally determined to be correct about the existence of ghosts while Lauren (Charlene Boyd) plays the diplomat balancing loyalties and drinking her way into a stupor to avoid the conflict.It's never clear if the characters themselves can see the clock, making it an even more chilling presence, ticking away to a moment of truth.

Normally, that wouldn't bother me, but it feels very excessive with how many f-bombs and other such choices are littered through a single sentence, let alone the whole play. It turns out Robins had a lot to say and his love for the supernatural was a perfect conduit for him. The clever use of a movement sensor on the back porch is exploited throughout the play to increase tension.Elliot Cowan as Sam stands out in this production with his projection of his lines and successfully makes Sam the thoroughly irritating character he’s intended to be, this shows his calibre as a great actor, and it is nice to see Elliot back on a London stage. With a run time of 1hr40, I would query the choice to have an interval – it feels like the tension and climax could be more intense without a 20 minute break. Once they start talking and the booze starts flowing Jenny reveals that she thinks her house is haunted. The first half definitely showed signs of a new show opening with cues slightly missed and relationships not fully formed but the cast and writing settled in during act 2. She was less impressed with "an overuse of deafening fox screams" and found that "arguments occasionally escalate into one-note yelling" but judged that "neither of these things do much to detract from the steadily growing tension".

It largely justifies the confidence displayed in putting the word ‘ghost’ right up there in the title. Sam’s university friend Lauren (Louise Ford) brings Ben, her cockney builder boyfriend (he did her bathroom and never left). He also begins to wonder whether she, rather than the potential ghostly presence in the nursery, is a threat to their baby. Cheryl, Hugo Chegwin, Louise Ford and Scott Karim will be playing at the Lyric Theatre, London from 21 January 2023 to 23 April 2023.

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. I also think about people in my own life who are similar to the character of Ben and mash it all up together. It’s everything I love; wit, a meditation on marriage and relationships and family all hinging on a frightening plot.