Review: 2:22, A Ghost Story (Touring)

Monday 30th March 2026 at the Grand Opera House, York

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2:22, A Ghost Story is a great watch. Full of suspense and dramatic bells and whistles, it knows how to hit the sweet spot when it comes to keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. When I first saw this show, I told people it was well above the ever-popular The Woman in Black, and while it isn’t quite as strong as the very impressive Paranormal Activity, I stand by that conclusion after a second viewing. 

The plot? Sam and Jenny’s new place is… well, haunted it seems. They’re hosting their friends for the evening, and as the night goes on, revelations are many – and not just when it comes to uncanny happenings in the new abode, either. Danny Robins’ writing is great, moving between ordinary chat and rich underlying tensions which flare beautifully as the plot progresses. It’s also a surprisingly funny script for a thriller like this, making the jump scares and darker moments all the more gripping for their contrast. 

Shvorne Marks is brilliant as Jenny – a fiercely protective mother to a child she worries about in such a spooky situation, but also a very funny, whip-smart counterpart to James Bye’s condescending Sam; a man who lives for correcting others and loves nothing more than a quip at another’s expense. 

Their guests are an odd-ball pairing if ever there was one – Lauren as the slightly unhinged long-term pal and Ben as her more sober partner. Natalie Casey’s performance is decidedly outlandish as Lauren fuels up on liquor throughout, giving a performance that wouldn’t be out of place in a Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? production. Grant Kilburn provides a welcome counterpart, providing some great one liners and comic Danny Dyer style delivery to cut through tension before the next reveal.

A pretty classic domestic set design from Anna Fleischle’s set takes us to a place of anticipation, a home under renovation where the possibilities for evidence of a haunting are plentiful. Yet much of the haunting happenings fall to Ian Dickinson’s thrilling sound design, featuring a pulsating beat hammering through scene changes, alongside Lucy Carter’s red herring lighting designs which show flashes and glimpses of – nothing much, as it turns out.

2:22 A Ghost Story remains a gripping show helmed by a strong cast, and it’s very well staged under direction of Matthew Dunster and Isabel Marr, who confidently steer us along growing audience expectations as we go, and only playing to a few expected conventions of the thriller genre. I thought when I saw this show for the first time that the clues were a little heavy, given that my friend and I clocked the mystery pretty early, but a second viewing does justice to the writing. There’s a definite sense of plot-hole double takes when the reveal finally lands, but it’s just as enjoyable to watch the pieces of the puzzle slot together when the ending is known – surely the marker of a thriller well done!

2:22, A Ghost Story is at York Grand Theatre and Opera House until 4th April 2026 – more information and tickets can be found here.