2:22 A Ghost Story
2:22 A Ghost Story is a thriller play by Danny Robins. It premiered in the West End in 2021, and received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play the following year.
2:22 A Ghost Story
Plot[edit]
Jenny and her husband Sam have recently bought a large house in Greater London that they are renovating. For several nights, at exactly 2:22 am, Jenny hears the sound of someone moving around the house and a man's voice crying, via the baby monitor in her daughter's bedroom, and becomes convinced the house is haunted. Sam, being a sceptic and having been away on a work trip, insists there are more logical explanations for the noises. The couple hosts a dinner party for Lauren, an old university friend of Sam's, and Ben, her new boyfriend who has a belief in the supernatural. After discussing the strange noises, Jenny persuades the others to stay up until 2:22am to see what happens.[25][26]
Sam reveals that his work trip was to a rural island where he lost his phone, and was unable to contact Jenny, leaving her and daughter Phoebe alone in the house. The two argue, and tensions arise further when the group discover Phoebe's teddy bear in the bathroom drenched in white spirit.
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. Ben, disturbed by what he saw in the seance, leaves the house and refuses to re-enter. After the altercation, Lauren has a private conversation with Sam where she confesses to having doused Phoebe's toy in spirit in an attempt to prove Sam (and his constant need to provide a scientific explanation for everything) wrong, and also confesses that she has loved him since their university days.
Critical reception[edit]
In The Guardian, Kate Wyver wrote, "With a brilliant sense of mounting dread and just the right number of jump-scares, Danny Robins' new ghost story is a slick, chilling romp of a play", adding, "You wouldn't know this is Allen's first time acting in the West End. She is strong as the frantic, afraid and exhausted Jen [...] though it's in her moments of stillness that the fear best finds its way in".[25] She described the cast as "gleaming", noting "Fraser's Sam is so realistic it's hard to believe he's acting", that Wood "revels in [his role of Ben], drawing out the humour and diving into the mysticism", and that "Chan does a brilliant balancing act, shifting Lauren's loyalties throughout the night".[25] Wyver praised Robins' script, finding it "sharp, quick, and cleverly layered with clues. While his handling of horror is nothing new, it's done smartly, toying with the tropes. In one of the most chilling scenes, absolutely nothing happens yet the grand old room is electric with the fear of expectation".[25] 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". Overall, she decided, "This show is not scary enough to cause nightmares, nor is it gruesome or graphic or gory; it's more human than the creepiest horror movies. But there are genuinely chilling moments, scary enough that the whole theatre is tense and pin-drop quiet. [...] Scary enough, perhaps, to have you turn on the light the next time you hear an unusual sound at night, just to check the time".[25]
Reviewing the play for The Independent, Annabel Nugent wrote, "Allen is superb as Jenny. Exhaustion thrums a fraction below her palpable fear – just visible enough in her performance to have you questioning Jenny's version of events. And while it may be Allen who everyone has come to see, she isn't bearing the weight alone", adding, "Fraser embodies the role of his condescending character so fully that you come away hating him just a little", noting that "Wood steals scenes as Ben, giving the comedic character punchlines that stick, as well as an unforeseen likeability", and judging that Chan "confidently treads a delicate line in one of the more complicated parts".[28] Nugent also found Robins's script "tight and layered. On-stage action waxes and wanes but the mounting sense of dread is relentless" adding that he "is well-versed in what makes scary stories scarier, and uses that to brilliant effect here" and praising his "adept writing of emotionally charged two-handers, which provide a useful toehold into the characters’ psychological universe".[28] She concluded, "Much more than simply a successful first foray into theatre for one British singer, 2:22 stands on its own merits. Bar a handful of genuinely terrifying moments, it's hardly The Exorcist, but maybe that's for the best. There are enough scary things happening in the world right now to keep us up at night".[28]