Writer: Tim Foley
Director: Neil Bettles
Magic and horror are two genres that thrive on misdirection. Look over there, they say, giving you something to tease the vision while something far more dramatic happens elsewhere, just out of one’s eyeline. In the case of It Walks Around the House at Night, verbal and physical sleights-of-hand are dotted throughout, affording the inevitable jump scares some additional weight.
George Naylor monologues as Joe, an out-of-work actor now settled in his role as an assistant manager in a pub, juggling dealing with the clientele with the awkwardness of breaking up with one of the pub’s other workers, Rufus. When Joe is approached by a mysterious but sexy customer for some unusual acting work, the barman takes the job in the hopes that he’ll earn some money as well as a possible romantic liaison.
The work involves roaming the grounds of a mysterious stately home, Paragon Hall, at night. Dressed in antique garb, he is to pose as a ghost to entertain/spook the customer’s nieces, who are staying at the house. But as Joe becomes the spectre who walks around the house at night, there is a sensation that he is not alone.
Naylor’s Joe is charismatic and funny, revelling in the absurdity of his situation as he hides away in a cottage on the estate during the day (lest, he presumes, he not be seen by the house guests and ruin the effect). The performer’s wry commentary ebbs slowly away through the piece as more and more unease seeps into his life.
Joshua Pharo’s elegant lighting design plays on light and shadow, complemented by video projections that add to rather than distract from the main action. With some areas of the stage frequently in total blackness, and with jackets and crumpled bedsheets forming shapes in shadow, the opportunities for both subtleties and jump scares are capitalised upon throughout.
As the ghost story elements continue, Foley’s script also explores Joe’s backstory, especially his relationship with his ex, who turns out to come from the sort of hereditary wealth mirroring that of the family who owned Paragon Hall. There is a sense that the demonic forces Joe encounters convey metaphors on multiple levels.
An hour of suspense and tension, occasionally broken by laughter and even a smattering of 1980s pop, builds – until we encounter a predecessor of Joe’s, a dancer who previously took the job of walking the grounds. Oliver Baines delivers a nicely choreographed routine, but through no fault of his own, the effect is to lessen the sense of isolation that Naylor has previously been so effective at portraying.
The denouement reaches into Lovecraftian eldritch horror as Joe, accompanied by the bar’s manager and her girlfriend, discovers the secret within Paragon Hall. This final act is where horror and magic often diverge – where the latter discipline pulls off a final flourish, the conclusion to a horror tale can often leave one dissatisfied.
There is something of that here, with a conclusion that can never quite live up to the otherwise impressive build-up. There is an epilogue which, while designed to suggest that the horror Joe and his friends witnessed is still at large, feels the most predictable and manipulative portion of the whole piece.
That apart, It Walks Around the House at Night provides plenty of atmospheric tension and more than its fair share of jump scares. In the pantheon of theatrical horror, it earns its place, and there will be many audience members looking over their shoulders when the house lights come up.
Runs until 28 March 2026
