My reference point for 2.22 a Ghost Story, currently running at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate, came purely from Lily Allen’s title track on her brilliantly brutal album West End Girl.
All photos copyright: Helen Murray http://www.helenmurrayphotos.com
I’d read about how she’d been cast in the original London version – much to her duplicitous actor partner’s annoyance – and had gone on to win awards; perhaps acting as frazzled and frightened new mum Jenny wasn’t too much of a stretch.
The show is now in its umpteenth production in the UK and globally, and the larger Derngate auditorium was pretty full for a cold Tuesday evening.
The set design and lighting for 2.22 are superb, honed over several years using a stark red neon frame for each blackout (accompanied by over-used screams that made the entire audience repeatedly jump in their seats) and the combination of lighting and set design really make the stage look like a partially converted Victorian townhouse with a shed out the back. The two digital clocks dominate, ominously reminding the audience of the time of each act.
A young couple with a baby, Jenny, (played by Shvorne Marks) and Sam, (Eastenders and Strictly star James Bye), have just moved in to a house that was in the same family for decades. They’ve ripped out the old fittings and are in the process, as happens in so many gentrified areas, of redecorating. Jenny hates the new, ubiquitous glass doors to the garden and their evenings are also constantly punctuated with the blood-curdling screams of urban foxes.
We learn Sam has just returned from a trip away, has lost his phone, and Jenny has been left literally holding the baby, and her patience is frazzled not only by a lack of sleep and Sam’s lack of help, but by a mysterious sound that seems to come from the baby’s room, in the early hours, at exactly 2.22am.
Sam’s former university friend Lauren, played effusively by Natalie Casey (of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps fame) has been invited for dinner with her new partner Ben (2.22 veteran Grant Kilburn stepped in for soap star Gary Lucy, who withdrew for personal reasons (see Daily Mail et al)).
Ben’s a builder, and a local lad, brought up on ghost stories, and isn’t so skeptical of Jenny’s concerns about the early hours noises. He resents Sam’s obvious snobbery and suspicious of his previous relationship with Lauren (who inexplicably has an American accent, never explained, not necessary in my opinion?).
The friends (although they spend so much time shouting at each other I wondered why) agree to stay up and see if the noises return.
Lots of spooky noises and goings on then occur and that’s about as much as I can say without spoilers.
While I was sitting on the edge of my seat throughout, there were points when suspending my disbelief was less about the ghostly doings and more about the script – I can’t say I’d have hung about at that dinner party beyond the starter.
And the multiple, often random jump scares, while quite fun and enough to get the blood pumping (unless you have a heart condition), they didn’t seem to add much to the story. If you’re a fan of scream screen cinema horror, the live version will be exhilarating!
The denouement is a good one, if a little derivative, and could have done with being more than just a three minute whack at the end. But it’s pretty good, and worth the wait if you haven’t already worked it out through the play.
We’re very lucky to have big shows like this come to Northampton, and hopefully it will see similar numbers of thrill seekers signing up for the rest of the run. It will certainly get the blood pumping!
2.22 A Ghost Story runs at Royal & Derngate until Saturday January 17. Find out more via the Box Office or by calling 01604 624811.
