★★★★ 2:22 A Ghost Story: A Frightfully Good Evening Out

After sell out runs in London’s West End and multiple nationwide tours that have received rave reviews, 2:22 A Ghost Story is back in the Sheffield Lyceum for another week of spooks. 

Danny Robin’s celebrated thriller is a well oiled production. The timing is spot on, the jokes scattered throughout land easily, and the ending still gets those who have been before. 

Jenny (Shvorne Marks) and her husband Sam (James Bye) have recently moved into their new house and are hosting a dinner party for their friend Lauren (Natalie Casey) and her new partner Ben (Grant Kilburn). When windows open by themselves and objects are found in places they should not be, Jenny shares her fears.

Each night at the same time (any guesses what time that might be?), she hears heavy footsteps coming through the baby monitor, pacing about her daughter’s room. Sam claims it is nonsense, and accuses Jenny of being tired after working too hard on the new house, which it is revealed previously belonged to a newly widowed woman. 

Jenny begs Lauren and Ben to stay until 2:22 in the hopes that they too will witness the footsteps and validate her fears. Throughout the evening, the party members share their own ghost stories, all of which Sam tries to disprove with reason. Tensions rise, alcohol is consumed and true feelings are revealed. When 2:22 arrives, snjdhsif uh4eun w4eo ods84w 303ejhf ram2dbjei. 

Sorry about that, my keyboard must be acting up - perhaps you will have to go and see the show to find out for yourself what happens.

Anna Fleischle designed the set: a simple open-plan kitchen slash living room with one door leading to the front hall, another to an unseen bathroom, and sliding French windows leading to the garden. A clock above the hallway door shows the hours ticking by. The design is very impressive and has the exact look of a 20th century house midway through its transformation to suit a young 2026 family. 

The acting was very natural for a supernatural show. The emotions felt real, outbursts felt justified and Jenny’s rising stress at the end made several audience members shed a tear. 

The only aspect that let down the production were the cheap attempts at jumpscares: loud screams accompanied by strobe lights and red LEDs made the audience jump when a character made a shocking revelation, signalling a scene change. But string instruments and sliding scales accompanied by Danny Robin’s brilliant writing create tension so cleverly, making the audience sink back in their seats, bracing for something horrible to happen. There was no need for added frights that didn’t add value to the story.  

2:22 A Ghost Story is deserving of the hype it gets and is the perfect play to prove that the stage needs more thrillers. It is haunting the Sheffield Lyceum until Saturday 6 June and ticket can be purchased here.