An 152-year-old theatre is bound to have ghosts hanging about. Unless, that is, you don’t believe in them, and that is the crux of 2:22 A Ghost Story; it is about the battle between whether ghosts are real or a necessary myth that some people need to help them come to terms with dying, writes Michael Holland.
An old Victorian house in East London is being renovated by the couple who have bought it from an old lady who had lived there for many years. Jenny, the wife, begins hearing strange noises each night at 2.22am in their baby’s room. She is a non-believer, as is her husband, Sam, so she tries to get to the bottom of it by standing in the room at 2.22. The sound of footsteps reveals there is definitely an unseen person walking around the baby’s cot. She tells this to Sam when he returns from a business trip and he laughs it off.
Friends Lauren and Ben are round for dinner and drinks and they are told the eerie tale. Lauren, like Sam, is not convinced, but Ben grew up in a household where ghosts were not only believed but seemingly understood.
What follows is a night of secrets and lies, tricks and truth, and all fuelled by alcohol. This heady concoction has Jenny and Lauren now believing in the supernatural after they play a ghost-quiz drinking game and recount past ghostly experiences that they had not told before for fear of ridicule. Now, they decide, is the time to tell them.
With clichéd tropes of thunder and lightning, fog, and unearthly noises added in, plus the screams of copulating foxes, you have all you need to make an audience jump at the right time.
The Second Act takes Scary to another level when they decide that having a séance is a good idea. There are break ups and make ups as the foursome turn on each other, then further shouting and screaming helps us along to a rather neat ending at 2:22.
Writer Danny Robins grew up in a household that knew there was no God, Father Christmas or unicorns, but he became fascinated by ghosts. He read books, watched horror films, and researched the subject enough to form a theory that humans need to believe in something else instead of merely ceasing to exist at the end of their lives.
His play throws up questions: If clothes can’t ‘die’, why are ghosts never naked? Why don’t ghosts appear at the bus stop or the checkout at Tesco? He also answers why we feel cold when scared, and why our hair then stands on end when we get a fearful shiver.
The house and its past occupants is a metaphor for one life ending and a new life taking over. The old layers of paint and wallpaper are the ghosts of the past. Local boy Ben talks of the gentrification of his area as people like Sam move in and get rid of all traces of people like himself. Ben is a remnant of the past who ‘haunts’ the newcomers and their new ways.
2:22 A Ghost Story is the writer getting his research and theories onto a stage and into the mouths of actors. He puts the believers and sceptics in the ring to fight it out and then declares his winner. The play will not convince believers that it is silly to believe or make non-believers suddenly believe in ghosts. What it does do is give you a great night’s entertainment of laughs and shocks from an excellent cast.
Criterion Theatre, 218-223 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London W1J 9HR until September 4th. Times: Tues – Sun 7.30pm. Sat & Sun matinees 2pm. Admission: £20 – £95.
Booking: https://222aghoststory.com