The clock is counting down… as 2:22 brings ghostly chills to the Kings Theatre in Southsea
I’ve never found a clock so mesmeric.
There have been too many occasions when I’ve been fixated by stadium clocks at football matches and been praying for time to be up. But that certainly wasn’t feeling at the Kings Theatre as 2:22 A Ghost Story creeped to its conclusion. As I stared intently at the clock on the wall I was not willing the show to end - I was just desperate to see how it would end. And how shocking it was going to be once that triple two came around.
That is the edge-of-the seat treat that is in store for theatre-goers in Southsea all this week. After seven West End seasons and a record-breaking UK and Ireland tour, 2:22 A Ghost Story opened at the Kings Theatre last night and runs until Saturday (March 7). The winner of Best New Play at the WhatsOnStage Awards, this gripping supernatural thriller will keep you guessing until the end.
Jenny (Shvorne Marks, who played Bernadette in ITV’s Three Little Birds) believes her new home is haunted. ‘There’s something in our house, I hear it every night at the same time’, she tells husband Sam (James Bye, best known for playing Martin Fowler on EastEnders for more than 10 years). But he isn’t having any of it.
They argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren (Natalie Casey from Hollyoaks and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps fame) and new partner Ben (Grant Kilburn). Can the dead really walk again? Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening, and that something is getting closer, so they’re going to stay up… until 2:22… and then they’ll know.
All four stars shine - I couldn’t pick out one above the other as they draw you into the living room with their perfectly-played and disparate characters. They bounce brilliantly off each other as more alcohol is drunk, hidden thoughts and stories from childhoods struggle to the surface and tiredness and tension build. The show is also darkly comic . There are plenty of humourous one-liners - which adds to the feeling of unease as you know you are going to end up paying back every laugh you share. And, don’t worry, there are plenty of moments of fright when you (and those around you) will literally gasp and jolt upright in your seats.
Written by Danny Robins, creator of the hit BBC podcasts Uncanny and The Battersea Poltergeist, 2:22 A Ghost Story is filled with fun and frights but come 2:22 what are you going to believe? And do you dare discover the truth? So book tickets - you won’t be disappointed when the the countdown runs out of time.