“I think I hear a ghost,” says Jenny (Stacey Dooley) to her sceptical husband, Sam (Kevin Clifton). And so the scene is set for a supernatural tale of mystery, one that has the audience on the edge of their seat. At precisely 2:22am on consecutive nights, Jenny hears footsteps via the monitor in her baby’s room. Sam’s refusal to believe her as she struggles with her fear that their house is haunted, and that their baby daughter is therefore in danger, leads to mounting tension. As the plot unfurls, so the pressure on their relationship grows. Who will be proved to be right?...

On the back of several successful West End seasons and recognition as Best New Play at the WhatsOnStage awards, 2:22 A Ghost Story will not disappoint fans of tales of intrigue and things that go bump in the night. Set in Jenny and Sam’s recently purchased house, the action takes place over the course of one evening, when the young couple host dinner for their friends Lauren (Shvorne Marks) and Ben (Grant Kilburn). As the clock clicks ominously towards 2:22, the insufferably pompous Sam and desperate-to-please Ben lock horns, Jenny and Lauren share confidences, and past events are raked up. All four bring baggage to the party, and high drama is inevitable. Fast-paced and with multiple twists and turns, this is a play that is bound to entertain.

Contrasts and mood changes are at the heart of this piece. The set is one of cosy domesticity: a newly renovated kitchen, household improvements in progress and baby pictures on the bookshelf. But, unseen and off-set, upstairs and beyond the garden, loom menacing darkness and the chilling screams of foxes. Clever use of dramatic flashes of lighting and eerie bursts of music crank up the suspense. The staging is inventive and an essential part of creating the ever-present sense of menace, an effective contrast to sometimes mundane dialogue about, for example, the origins of baby monitors and their design flaws. 
The experience of watching this play is rather like being on a rollercoaster; one minute in the doldrums of banal chat about the gentrification of the neighbourhood or a trip to the off licence, the next in anticipation of an impending bombshell.

The show’s success is no mystery, and it’s surely set to run and run. Darkly comic and thoroughly diverting, if uncanny tales of ghostly goings-on are your thing, then 2:22 A Ghost Story certainly fits the bill.

Four stars

2:22 A Ghost Story was reviewed by Rachel Smith on Monday 13 October at Birmingham theatre The Alexandra, where it shows until this Saturday (18 October)