REVIEW:   2:22 – A Ghost Story at the Mayflower Theatre

The multi award-winning ‘2:22 – A Ghost Story’ which took the West End by storm has come to take Southampton’s breath away. The Mayflower is the latest theatre to see Whatsonstage’s ‘Best New Play’, and you can see exactly why it has that title. This play is a brilliantly funny, adrenaline-fuelled night that will leave you either on the edge of your seat, or cowering behind your own hands. The story is just fantastic and you feel a part of the narrative from the very start to the very end. Danny Robins (Writer) gets you constantly asking yourself questions throughout the play; not only, do you believe? But as he said, “The statement, ‘I have seen a ghost’ still has the power to silence a room and forever change the way you see someone, or how people see you.” 

It’s quite difficult to give a general rundown of this show whilst trying not to give anything away, so I’ll keep this very brief. Husband and wife, Sam and Jenny, buy a new house and Jenny believes that it is haunted. Sam disagrees and when they have their first guests over for dinner, Lauren and Ben, arguments spark and everyone is in disagreement. The only way to settle the debate is to stay up until 2:22. 

Not much to go off I know, but trust me, the show is so much better the less you know about it!

The cast were amazing. This play notoriously always has a star-studded cast, and the tour is no different to that. There are only 4 cast members; Joe Absolom as ‘Ben’, Charlene Boyd as ‘Lauren’, Nathaniel Curtis as ‘Sam’, and Louisa Lytton as ‘Jenny’. They all bounced off of each other perfectly and made you feel like you were just watching a group of people interacting, and not acting – it felt so natural. (Not supernatural… cheap I know). All joking aside however, it genuinely did feel as if we were watching an unscripted dinner party, seemingly effortless! There were moments where the whole audience was laughing, and there were moments where the whole audience was gasping. Nothing that was said seemed like it was thrown away, everything stuck and had some sort of impact. Bravo! I remember thinking in the interval, ‘that feels like I’ve watched the first half of a movie and not a play,’ which is so impressive regarding the small cast and fixed set.  

As I previously mentioned, the set was the same throughout but boy was it impressive. It’s meant to symbolise a new home in the midst of getting renovated, and that’s exactly what it looks like. It’s such a simple set design, but there’s also so much going on at the same time and its all functional. You can tell that ‘2:22’ is used to being in much smaller theatres, but I don’t think that the set felt drowned out at all. The use of black curtains around the stage were really effective in both creating a darker atmosphere but as well as killing that extra unused space. The lighting for the show was also very integral to the success of it. The use of darker lighting for outside, with strobe effects every now and then really packs a punch in getting those reactions from the audience. And how can we not talk about the red digital clocks and use of added red lighting. There are 2 digital clocks on the whole time, and even when they’re not ‘in use’ they almost act as an extra character looming over the stage, waiting for their moment. Fantastic design!

Soundtrack wise, there isn’t an awful lot used. There’s atmospheric music, or music/sound effects used by the actors, but all music that is used is purely atmospheric and is meant to have a meaning. Which it does! I think one of the things I liked most about the play was the fact that in the 2 hour run-time, we don’t go anywhere, we’re literally just at a dinner party yet it didn’t drag. There was always something keeping you engaged, whether that be the dialogue or the movement, or even the moments of impactful silence. This is such a difficult thing to do in theatre, and for a story that is set in one place over one evening, that’s so impressive! Clearly this is something Directors, Matthew Dunster and Isabel Marr worked very hard on. With thrillers or suspense stories, it’s cliché that you can more often than not see what’s going to happen next and where the arc of the story is going. ‘2:22’ was definitely not like that. I couldn’t guess what was coming next, and that is so refreshing helping build onto the excitement of what was or wasn’t about to happen.

‘2:22’ is an amazing story that hits so many points whilst certainly getting you ready for the spooky season. The actors were brilliant, the set was fantastic and the story. Well I now know why the story is so critically acclaimed! I went to watch this play with almost no prior knowledge, and I think that’s how it should be watched. Having said this, I will definitely be wanting to go back, I feel like it may be a completely different watching experience second time around. It’s a horror movie on stage. If you plan on going to see ‘2:22 – A Ghost Story’ (which you absolutely should), try and avoid all spoilers and immerse yourself into the narrative as much as you possibly can. I wish all the cast and crew the best of luck as ‘2:22’ ends its time in Southampton on the 21st October before carrying on the rest of its UK tour. I think its safe to say the Mayflower will certainly be keeping their ghost light out for the foreseeable!