Brighton Theatre Royal Review - 2:22 A Ghost Story

Summary

Rating: ★★★
Running Dates: Monday 6th October - Saturday 11th October
Where to see it: Theatre Royal Brighton
Duration: 2 hr (incl. interval)
Keywords:  ghosts, haunting, suspense, marriage, family drama

Photography by Helen Murray

Review

2:22 A Ghost Story is a play about ghosts, haunted houses, and creepy babies. It’s a story of marriage, love, and belief.

Jenny (Stacy Dooley) has just moved into a new home with her husband Sam (Kevin Clifton). After just a few nights, she begins to hear a presence, to feel something sinister, and it’s targeting her daughter…

However, Sam isn’t convinced, and his skepticism sparks a heated debate that turns a dinner party into a makeshift seance.

Written by Danny Robins, 2:22 A Ghost Story is the perfect start to spooky season for us horror fans. While it is about a haunted house, the play goes deeper than that. 2:22 A Ghost Story is more than anything about the relationship between Jenny and Sam, about their marriage and how becoming parents has drastically changed the dynamics of the household. The true horror of this story isn't the ghost. It’s the unseen domestic labour that Jenny carries in the face of Sam’s complete helplessness.

The play uses a well-known horror trope (of ghost-seeing wives and husbands that refuse to believe them) and cleverly uses it to dig deep into how patriarchal expectations define men’s and women’s roles within the domestic sphere. The play shines a light on how women often carry most of the emotional and unseen labour for the rest of the household, while men offer a limp "it'll all be ok” while never offering concrete and practical support. 

We see Jenny constantly trying to come up with ways to keep her daughter from harm’s way, while Sam does nothing but critique her approach and dispute the existence of ghosts. 

Photography by Helen Murray

It was a perfectly enjoyable play, with great performances from both the lead actors and the side characters. However, there were some shortcomings. 

Maybe the fault lies in my expectations of what the show was going to be, but I was slightly let down by how little of the ghost we actually see. How not scared I was for the most part. I think the show would’ve benefitted from being slightly longer, to have some room for us to actually experience  the haunting rather than just being told about it. Most of the ‘supernatural’ events we only hear about from the main character, but never see first-hand.

Moreover, I felt that the play relied too heavily on the same repeated jumpscare, so that as we approached the end of the story, it lost effectiveness and became slightly comical instead. Offering new ways to give us a good scare would’ve definitely been a plus.

The play does pick up at the end, with a plot twist that honestly left my jaw on the floor. I love story revelations that make you look back at every interaction, every detail, only to discover there were clues all over. It was a great way to end the story and really gave it an extra kick. 

See If:  you want to get in the right mood for spooky season
Stand Out Moments:  the plot twist at the end
Last Impressions: 2:22 A Ghost Story  is an interesting play on the haunted house story, a reflection on marriage dynamics, love, and belief. 

Written by Roberta Guarini

Disclaimer: We were kindly gifted these tickets in exchange for a review.