‘Well acted to be sure but just not my cup of tea’: 2:22 – A GHOST STORY – West End

Transfers from Gielgud Theatre to Criterion Theatre 7 May-4 September 2022

The perils of going to see something just because you like an actor in it… I loved seeing Elliot Cowan onstage again but was significantly less keen on 2:22 – A Ghost Story.

“There’s something in our house. I hear it every night, at the same time.”

I wasn’t fussed enough about 2:22 – A Ghost Story to see it first time around, featuring Lily Allen’s stage debut at the Noël Coward, and I only really went to see this recast transfer at the Gielgud because of the presence of Elliot Cowan and the chance to see Stephanie Beatriz for the first time.

And my general feelings about horror on stage were somewhat vindicated, in a show whose first half is painfully stultifying. Sam and Jenny have moved into a house she believes is haunted and at a dinner party with their neighbours, they wait for the titular time when the paranormal is due to strike.

And it is a whole lotta waiting, which Matthew Dunster’s production does little to counter. Too many genre tropes are used as cheap tricks and once we finally get to the point of revelation, it’s a bit bafflingly anticlimactic. Well acted to be sure but just not my cup of tea.

‘Well acted to be sure but just not my cup of tea’: @OughtToBeClowns on @222aghoststory, which transfers to its third #WestEnd home, @CriTheatre, in May. #222AGhostStory #theatrereviews

Ian Foster

Since 2003, Ian Foster has been writing reviews of plays, sometimes with a critical element, on his blog Ought to Be Clowns, which has been listed as one of the UK's Top Ten Theatre Blogs by Lastminute.com, Vuelio and Superbreak. He averages more than 350+ shows a year. He says: "Call me a reviewer, a critic or a blogger, and you will apparently put someone or other's nose out of joint! So take it or leave it, essentially this is my theatrical diary, recording everything I go to see at the theatre in London and beyond, and venturing a little into the worlds of music and film/TV where theatrical connections can be made."