When you're afraid - really, seriously, losing-your-mind terrified - how quickly will you throw logic out of the window? In 2:22 A Ghost Story at Cardiff's New Theatre, you'll spend two hours in the company of a group of people who instantly turn against each other when they suspect a ghost is nearby.
Sam thinks he's right about everything, and Jenny fell in love with him for it - but when she thinks she's heard a ghost in their daughter's room, she becomes infuriated at his refusal to believe her. Into their lives walk Lauren, with whom the couple have a mysterious history - and her new boyfriend Ben, with a fondness for seances and a healthy distrust of Sam's emotionally distant cocksure poshboy shtick.
It's creepy, with a compelling mystery to get stuck into. The characters are slight caricatures and their dialogue is a little hammy, but the setting is so familiarly domestic that you settle into the rhythm of their conversation, the quickly-increasing tempo of fear and the little cracks of distrust that appear between the four as you learn their backstories.
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By interval, the audience around us are discussing their predictions for the second act - and that's the kind of show this is. If you're the sort that enjoys picking apart true crime or paranormal conspiracy theories on your sofa with a blanket and some popcorn, this is your theatre wishes made flesh.
In act two you'll get some meatier sci-fi discussions - what is a ghost, really, and why would they haunt us in such creepy, ineffective ways - knocking paintings off walls and making us hear mysterious footsteps?
Jump scares are both played for laughs to diffuse the fear (which works) or cheaply inserted to build it (which doesn't). The play is decently scary on its own, with some genuinely hair-raising moments; by the two-hour mark, loud_scream.mp3 starts to grate.
The Wanted's Jay McGuinness, several years into an acting career, and Casualty's George Rainsford have a decent chemistry as warring blokes Sam and Ben - as do Hollyoaks' Vera Chok as Lauren and, arguably the lead, Emmerdale's Fiona Wade as Jenny (both characters frustrated at being treated as afterthoughts by the men in their lives). Get the best user experience with WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android
The drama within each couple is a bit telenovela, though, and their arcs get slightly predictable. It's better when it's quiet and tense. The bigger moments, in which wild accusations, heavy metaphors and actual bits of furniture are thrown around can be unsatisfying, with some soap-opera acting and a questionable American accent to support, but two hours with these characters makes them believable enough.
After an evening trapped in this claustrophobic, intense, paranoid living room (accurately-decorated and a clever parallel for the characters trying to bury their past behind shiny new kitchen islands and exposed brick) means you'll inevitably buy into the couples' story.
We can't, and shouldn't, give away how the drama reaches its climax, but there are enough breadcrumbs for the detectives in the audience to pick up on - even if not every theme reaches a satisfying conclusion. Ultimately, if this sounds even vaguely up your street, it's worth the price of entry.
2:22 A Ghost Story is showing at New Theatre, Cardiff until Saturday, January 27. Limited tickets are still available for Wednesday night and Friday matinee - you can buy them here.
