Review – 2.22 A Ghost Story  – New Theatre, Cardiff

The stage is set, a normal kitchen and dining area in an average house, however this play concerns itself with the less than ordinary, and the tension that builds throughout the play is already in the air and the digital clock is already ticking. 2.22 A Ghost Story opens with Jenny a mother played by Shvorne Marks home alone taking care of her new baby and using a baby monitor to keep an ear out whilst her child is asleep in her room. The audience experiences their first of many jump scares when the light outside flashes on with seemingly no cause.

We then jump to a dinner party with Jenny and her husband Sam (James Bye) hosting his best friend from college Lauren (Natalie Casey) and her new boyfriend Ben (Grant Kilburn). Jenny feels a presence of something else in the house. This dominates the conversation for the evening, with Sam standing firm as the sceptic determined to put the others straight whenever they lean towards the possibility of the existence of ghosts.

The play written by Danny Robbins is certainly thought provoking and keeps up the tension right the way through to the end. You are always on the edge of your seat waiting for something to happen. It also gives you plenty to think about and question in terms of the conflict between facts and feelings. What particularly surprises is the way the dialogue zips along and is humorous and witty, which also breaks up the intensity of the play at times and gives the audience some light relief.

The play rises and falls on it’s performances with four actors carrying the whole show and responsible for carrying us with them. James Bye, as Sam, gives a terrific performance, he is at turns the mercurial host and at others sanctimonious and abrasive but still very relatable and human. Natalie Casey as Lauren very cleverly leaves you wondering exactly whose side she is on, but still manages to elicit sympathy for all the regret and what if’s she seems to be holding onto. Grant Kilburn gives the standout performance in the production,  as he is able to walk a very fine line between playing the humour of his character, Ben, while retaining an edge of mystery about what his intentions truly are.

2.22 A Ghost Story is very well directed by Matthew Dunster and Gabriel Vega Weissman. The writing and the direction combine to make things that seem everyday become uncertain and unsettling brilliantly heightening the atmosphere and making the audience feel like something is hanging over the entire proceedings as a feeling of dread builds. Altogether it is more unsettling that full out scary, but it is a carefully constructed piece of theatre that will leave you thinking long after you have left the theatre.

****  Four Stars