2:22 A Ghost Story At Mayflower Theatre Southampton Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Amy Dixon
I wasn’t sure about what this show would entail. As I’m not necessarily a thriller, scary story enthusiast. I was expecting a lot of jumping and potentially hiding behind my friend who accompanied me to watch 2:22 A Ghost Story at Mayflower Theatre. However, after the initial jump it was a slow burner and although it definitely had further jumpy moments throughout (as shown by the audience around me), I didn’t feel that it was a surprise when they occurred. The performance was a little stilted at times and just didn’t feel like there was a good flow across some of the lines delivered.
2:22 A Ghost Story was written by Danny Robins, creator of BBC podcasts, The Battersea Poltergeist and Uncanny, and has had record breaking runs in Five West End Theatres. This looks like this touring run of shows will be following the same theme, as the theatre was packed, including school/college trips in the audience.
I have seen Stacey Dooley’s various documentaries on BBC and admire her presenting skills and empathy shown with the difficult subject matters she has covered, however I wasn’t completely sold on her representation of her character Jenny. It felt like I was watching a play (I know that is what I was doing) but I didn’t feel like I was there in the moment but rather watching people delivering their lines.
I would say my favourite character was that of the boyfriend Ben (Grant Kilburn), he had good one liners and a lighter feel than the other roles. Although we did notice by the end of the show his trousers were definitely getting shorter, as my friend said she’d never seen so much ankle…
My second favourite character was Lauren (Shvorne Marks), she was a livelier character other than Sam (Kevin Clifton). Both seemed to have better chemistry on stage and delivered their lines well. Sam was quite an extroverted character and definitely made use of the whole stage.
The staging was well thought out, you felt you were in the kitchen/diner/living space and could see the changes in weather depicted from the garden (via the patio doors). The sound effects were great with the use of the baby monitor and Alexa.
Mayflower Theatre is close to rail links and has plenty of parking including a multi-story car park close by and limited ticketed on road parking, I would encourage visitors to arrive early as traffic can be busy coming into Southampton.
The Theatre itself is very clean and the interior has had a revamp so looks very fresh and well maintained.
The theatre was well staffed with plenty of helpful friendly ushers, giving directions to the facilities and where to purchase refreshments in the interval.
I would recommend this show for those that enjoy a slower build to a story, it’s a quieter, drama production rather than a high-octane showy performance. I wouldn’t necessarily see it again but once you know the ending it can lose the suspense and surprise.
Rating: 3.5/5
Tickets ranging from £19.50 and available at: https://ticketing.mayflower.org.uk/50782/50784?queueittoken=e_mtttnewqueue~ts_1762862195~ce_true~rt_safetynet~h_f98846da799887090a040b01238a749f337b344e9bd3f5db328b04e3dc0c5553