Writer: Danny Robins
Director: Matthew Dunster and Gabriel Vega Weissman
Five years after it originally thrilled the West End 2:22 A Ghost Story has arrived in Portsmouth, bringing Danny Robins’ Olivier nominated play to the historic Kings Theatre.
Albert Road’s historic theatre, which has plenty of ghost stories of its own to tell, provides the stage for Robins’ modern classic asking the question do ghosts exist or can we explain life’s ghostly happenings through science. Director Matthew Dunster returns for the UK tour alongside Gabriel Vega Weissman, delivering a technically precise show which had its audience on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.
The show takes place entirely in a London house, in the midst of being redecorated by its new owners Sam (EastEnders’ James Bye) and Jenny (Shvorne Marks). Marks plays a doting, yet incredibly tired, mum to 11-month-old Phoebe becoming increasingly frantic and concerned as the large on-stage clock ticks upwards to 02:22 when, we assume, the show will culminate. Alongside her, Bye balances a fine line between concern for his wife’s wellbeing and being intellectually dismissive of the supernatural which threatens to challenge his scientific outlook. Bye may be best known for spending a decade on Albert Square, but he falls perfectly into the world of academia for this role.
Sam isn’t the only academic in the house, as he and Jenny host his long-time friend psychologist Lauren (Natalie Casey) and her new decorator-turned-boyfriend Ben (Grant Kilburn). She, initially supportive of her old friend’s scepticism but open to Jenny’s version of the truth, acts as a mediator helping the others – and the audience – weigh up the probability of Jenny’s supernatural experience in the face of Sam’s logic. He, working class decorator, adheres to spiritual beliefs suggesting and leading a séance to speak to Frank, the former inhabitant of the house and handyman. Both Lauren and Ben recount their own experiences of the paranormal during the show, one involving a second world war song and the other an escaped parakeet, encouraging Jenny’s worry while attracting ridicule from Sam.
In these roles Casey and Kilburn excel. Casey, playing an at times excitable American, brings an energy to the stage which pairs with the deliberate stillness Dunster and Weissman have created. Kilburn plays the outsider, not a part of the friendship group per se. Like this audience, Ben comes to the events of the show with the openness that comes from not caring about offending his hosts, openly challenging their analytical views in favour of his own spiritual ones.
The show is technically strong, with lighting design by Lucy Carter and sound design by Ian Dickinson (for Autograph) working in tandem to build suspense through the show, ably sitting alongside the open plan living room-kitchen created by Anna Fleischle.
The highlight of the show, however, is the script written by Danny Robins, host of the BBC’s Uncanny. It is tight, clean, and manages to elicit laughs throughout despite the often heavy subject matter. It is easy to see why the story and script attracted the likes of Lily Allen, Stephanie Beatriz, Tom Felton, and Cheyl during its seven West End runs.
Robins’ offers us one simple question during this show: Can we explain everything with science and logic or, sometimes, is the answer as simple as ghostly goings on?
Runs until Saturday 7 March, and then on tour.
