Many plays live or die by their final reveal; 2:22 A Ghost Story holds you fast with whip-smart dialogue and committed performances long before the clock strikes.

“Shh. Don’t Tell” marks the backdrop of the ending of 2:22 A Ghost Story, the touring production currently haunting the halls of Mayflower Theatre. As the title suggests, it’s a ghost story: Jenny (Stacey Dooley) is convinced the house she shares with her husband Sam (Kevin Clifton) is haunted, while Sam refuses to accept anything of the sort. Over the course of an evening with old friend Lauren (Shvorne Marks) and her new partner Ben (Grant Kilburn), the couple tries to win the others over to their respective viewpoints. Lacking any concrete evidence, they agree to stay awake until the time the disturbances always occur: 2:22. It’s a straightforward premise, and you spend the runtime combing the background and listening for hints, waiting for the moment the show yanks the rug out. As the clock ticks closer, the hauntings steadily escalate.

And yet, before the twist can land - which I’ll leave unspoiled as directed; I’m not a monster - 2:22 has to earn it. It does so through a sequence of scenes charting different points in the night. Early on, the source of Jenny’s unease is still unclear, and the play instead grounds itself in the dynamic of old friends reconnecting. Jenny and Sam are wrestling with the pressures of new parenthood, their offstage baby’s relentless wails slicing through conversations at the worst possible moments. Lauren is introducing Ben: a working-class, machismo presence who keeps brushing up against firmly middle-class Sam while trying, with palpable sincerity, to make a good impression. Much of the play unfolds through existential debates: the nature of hauntings, past brushes with the uncanny, and the class fault lines between the characters. Up until almost the finale, the only scares are brief auditory jumps that feel more gimmick than horror, their overuse slightly cheapening the otherwise tight production.

In my circles, 2:22 A Ghost Story is best known for that viral post dubbing its casting process “actor jury duty,” thanks to its habit of bringing in non-actor celebrities; Lily Allen’s debut run being the most notorious example. I’ll admit I was sceptical of Dooley and Clifton heading this tour, but both deliver grounded, compelling performances. Dooley’s frayed, anxious housewife carries real emotional heft, her need for her husband’s belief undercutting every scene. Sam himself can feel overwritten, all prickly scepticism and sardonic quips, but Clifton plays him with the right blend of charm and smarm. Marks approaches Lauren with a kind of loose, Gatsby-era intoxication that feels out of time but oddly fitting, while Kilburn’s Ben is the standout. As his character unfurls, the resentment he harbours toward Sam becomes a pointed reflection of broader class tensions, culminating in the strongest monologue of the night: “I’d haunt you.”

So, while I won’t say how the night ends (other than confessing that I finally twigged to it moments before it dropped and immediately berated myself for being slow on the uptake), it’s a sharply plotted, tightly written piece of theatre that avoids the usual pitfalls of twist-driven stories. Many plays live or die by their final reveal; 2:22 A Ghost Story holds you fast with whip-smart dialogue and committed performances long before the clock strikes.

2:22 A Ghost Story plays at Mayflower Theatre until the 15th of November, and you can get your tickets here: https://www.mayflower.org.uk/whats-on/222-a-ghost-story-2025/