REVIEW: The Red Shoes at Newcastle Theatre Royal

The Red Shoes

Newcastle Theatre Royal 

Until Saturday 9 May 2026

Lavish, imaginative and completely captivating, Sir Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is a loving tribute to its movie source and delivers beauty, comedy and high emotion, brilliantly interpreting Bernard Herrman’s soaring music.

Originally staged ten years ago, this production was touring in 2020, when the pandemic closed all the theatres. It is a cause for celebration that Bourne’s dazzling New Adventures company are once more bringing this exquisite dance drama to regional audiences.

Powell and Pressburger’s 1948 film was unlike anything that went before it. A Technicolor extravaganza in glamorous locations, it told the story of Victoria Page, a young dancer torn between her love for an aspiring composer and her passion for dance. Her signature role mirrors her real-life dilemma in portraying a girl so captivated by her red shoes that she is forced, literally, to dance herself to death.

The dance is personified here by Andy Monaghan’s imposing and obsessive impresario, Boris Lermontov, as well as Liam Mower’s stern, demanding ballet master, Grisha Lubov. Both deliver flawless dancing, coupled with nuanced and believable characterisation. Together, they deliver one message: dance demands your complete dedication, to the exclusion of all other passions.

Last seen here in her brittle and affecting portrayal of Miss Roach in The Midnight Bell, Cordelia Braithwaite wrings every nuance and hint of emotion from her role as Page. An exceptional dancer at the peak of her powers, the beauty of her lines and her flawless technique mean that she effortlessly embodies Herrman’s richly emotional music.

At this performance, Braithwaite was skilfully partnered by Jarrod McWilliams, the cover for composer Julian Craster, who danced out of his skin to bring out all the contrasting emotions of this idealistic character. In the titular ballet within the ballet, Jackson Fisch brought the same quality of youthful freshness and flawless technique to the role of her lover.

Typically for Bourne, the production has enjoyable elements of comedy and simple joy to temper the drama. Blissful seaside frolics, a boozy cast party and a hilarious sand-dancing sequence were particularly memorable. But it is the passion and the rapturous beauty of the more dramatic dance sequences that will stay in the memory most powerfully.

Lez Brotherston’s inspired scenery, centred by a gilt proscenium arch that rotates to change the aspect from stage to audience is a wonder, as are his glorious costumes. The sense of the period is all-pervading, and the perfectly judged extravagance of the images portrayed chimes perfectly with Terry Davies’ inspired orchestrations. Sadly, there was no live orchestra and the dancers performed to a recorded track, but such are the constraints of touring dance in 2026.

One would think that Matthew Bourne’s rich imagination and choreographic versatility would be a splendid fit with Powell and Pressburger’s unique and colourful vision and so it proves. This multiply awarded production is everything one could hope for it to be and more. Simply wonderful!

Review: Jonathan Cash

Photos: Johan Persson

Tickets:

Tickets are available online from https://www.theatreroyal.co.uk/whats-on/matthew-bournes-the-red-shoes/ and the Theatre Royal box office.

Preview: RITA, SUE & BOB TOO! at Billingham Forum Theatre,

RITA, SUE & BOB TOO!

Billingham Forum Theatre,

Tuesday 18 – Saturday 22 May 2027

Get ready, Billingham — one of the most riotously funny cult comedies ever to grace the British stage is heading to the Forum Theatre this spring, and if the buzz surrounding this production is anything to go by, tickets won’t hang around for long.

Regal Entertainments Ltd is bringing its acclaimed stage version of Rita, Sue & Bob Too! to the Forum Theatre for a five-night run from Tuesday 18 to Saturday 22 May 2027, as part of a brand-new nationwide tour visiting 11 venues across Britain between April and July.

Based on Andrea Dunbar’s beloved 1987 British film, the show is a brilliantly funny, bracingly honest and gloriously nostalgic romp through working-class life in 1980s Britain. Rita and Sue are two school-leaving girls from a run-down council estate who spend their spare time babysitting for married couple Bob and Michelle. When Bob embarks on a secret affair with both girls, taking them in turns for late-night trysts in his car out in the countryside, the scene is set for a story that crackles with mischief, warmth and sharp-edged wit. When Michelle eventually uncovers the truth and walks out, and Bob later develops a preference for Rita over Sue, a friendship is tested to its limits — only to be renewed when Sue finds herself trapped in an abusive relationship and the trio are unexpectedly reunited.

It’s a tale of love, lust and loyalty, laced with all the best soundtrack hits of the era to send audiences on a foot-tapping trip down memory lane.

Directed by Chantelle Joseph, the production arrives in Billingham fresh from the success of its 2025 tour, which played to sell-out houses and standing ovations across the country. Audiences called it “a fabulous story” and “very funny from start to finish” — high praise that suggests the 2027 outing will be equally in demand.

Joseph herself is clearly thrilled to be back on the road with the show: “I can guarantee audiences from Birmingham to Billingham a brilliant time,” she says, and given the rapturous response the production received first time around, that’s a promise that carries real weight.

For North East audiences, this is a rare and unmissable chance to see a sharp, funny and genuinely moving piece of British theatre at a venue that has long been at the heart of the region’s cultural life. The Forum Theatre is the perfect home for a show this bold and this joyful.

Casting is yet to be announced, so watch this space — but whoever takes on these iconic roles will have some very big shoes to fill.

Tickets:

Box Office: 01642 552663

forumtheatrebillingham.co.uk

For full tour information: www.rsbtuktour.com

REVIEW: To Kill A Mockingbird at Newcastle Theatre Royal

To Kill A Mockingbird

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Until Saturday 25 April 2026

Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird arrives at Newcastle Theatre Royal as part of its UK and Ireland tour, directed by Bartlett Sher and presented by Jonathan Church Theatre Productions. The production brings to the North East a piece of theatre that has already proven itself on both Broadway and in London's West End, and this touring company, headed by Patrick O’Kane as Atticus Finch with Anna Munden as Scout, makes a powerful case for why this story still needs to be told in the live theatre.

Aaron Shosanya (Tom Robinson)

Harper Lee's novel was published in 1960, winning the Pulitzer Prize and becoming one of the most widely read books in the English language. Sorkin's stage adaptation, which first opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in December 2018, is the first major professional adaptation to reach UK stages and is notable for a number of reasons beyond its theatrical pedigree. The road to production was not without turbulence: the Lee estate initially contested the script in the American courts, concerned that Sorkin had shifted the narrative focus from Scout to Atticus Finch himself, allowing the lawyer's moral character to evolve across the drama rather than remaining the fixed moral compass of the novel. A settlement was eventually reached, and the production went on to become a Broadway record-breaker for a non-musical play. The West End run at the Gielgud Theatre followed in 2022, and this UK tour marks the first time audiences across the country have had the opportunity to see Sorkin's version on their doorstep.

Dylan Malyn (Dill Harris), Anna Munden (Scout Finch), Gabrield Scott (Jem Finch)

The play opens with the three children. Scout, Jem and Dill, addressing the audience directly from a bare stage. It is a deliberate and effective theatrical choice, establishing immediately that this is a story being remembered and reconsidered, not simply re-enacted. From there the narrative unfolds in 1930s Maycomb, Alabama, a small Southern town where gossip travels fast and certain things go unquestioned. We are quickly introduced to Atticus, a quietly principled lawyer and widowed father, who has taken on the legal defence of Tom Robinson, a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman named Mayella Ewell. What strikes the audience in these opening scenes is how effectively Sorkin establishes both the warmth of the community and its complacency, the neighbourly courtesies that coexist with deep injustice. The children dart between the town's characters, trying to make sense of a world whose rules are only gradually being revealed to them, and to us.

Evie Hargreaves (Mayella Ewell)

Patrick O’Kane brings considerable weight to Atticus Finch without resorting to the kind of noble rigidity that can make the character feel more symbol than human. His Atticus is a man working through his own assumptions alongside the audience, and the performance is the stronger for it. Around him, the three young performers at the centre of the piece, Anna Munden as Scout, Gabriel Scott as Jem, and Dylan Malyn as Dill, are a genuine delight to watch. Their chemistry is natural and unforced, the camaraderie between the children entirely believable. Munden in particular holds the stage with confidence, her Scout curious and direct, carrying the emotional intelligence of someone beginning to understand a world that is not as simple as she had hoped. Together, the four of them form the heart of the production, and the scenes they share have an ease that makes the heavier material all the more affecting.

Oscar Pearce (Bob Ewell)

Sorkin's script is also genuinely funny, and the production earns its laughs honestly. The children's bickering logic, Dill's flights of wild imagination, and the dry comic timing that Coyle brings to several of Atticus's exchanges with his neighbours provide moments of real warmth and levity. This humour is not incidental — it is doing important dramatic work. By giving the audience room to laugh and breathe, the production creates an emotional texture that makes the darker turns land with greater impact. The light relief does not soften the blow of what follows; it sharpens it. An audience that has been charmed is an audience more fully invested, and when the mood shifts, the shift is felt all the more keenly.

Richard Coyle (Atticus Finch) & Aaron Shosanya (Tom Robinson)

Stephen Boxer's Judge Taylor brings a measured authority to the courtroom scenes, his presence a reminder of the institutional weight behind proceedings that are, in their outcome, far from impartial. Aaron Shosanya as Tom Robinson brings quiet dignity to a role that is all too easily reduced to a symbol, and his scenes carry a stillness that is deeply affecting. Oscar Pearce's Bob Ewell is menacing in the right register. unpleasant without being cartoonish, and Evie Hargreaves as Mayella Ewell brings a genuine complexity to what might have been a thankless role, finding the trapped desperation of a young woman caught between her own actions and her circumstances.

Andrea Davy (Calpurnia)

This is a play that moves its audience, and at times moves them to tears. The courtroom sequences build steadily to a conclusion that, even for those who know the story well, lands with real force. However, it is important that prospective audience members are aware that the production does not shy away from the racist language and attitudes of the period it depicts. Offensive terms are used on stage as part of an authentic representation of 1930s Alabama, and while this is a considered and purposeful creative decision, it may be distressing for some audience members. The production is not gratuitous in its approach, but it is unflinching, and rightly so. This is a story that derives its power from honesty.

Richard Coyle (Atticus Finch)

Newcastle Theatre Royal deserves credit for programming To Kill a Mockingbird in a season that has already shown commendable ambition. It would be easy for a receiving house of this scale to fill its diary with crowd-pleasing musicals alone, and while there is, of course, a place for those, it is genuinely pleasing to see a play of this substance and seriousness given the platform of the Royal's main stage. This reviewer left the theatre grateful for the experience. If you have the opportunity to see the show before it closes on Saturday 25 April, take it.

Review: Stephen Oliver

Photos: Johan Persson

Tickets:

To Kill a Mockingbird will run at Newcastle Theatre Royal from 21–25 April 2026.

Tickets are available from theatreroyal.co.uk  or via the Box Office on 091 232 7010.

Review corrections updated: 24/4/26

News: SOUTH SHIELDS' OWN JOE McELDERRY WINS AT THE PANTOMIME AWARDS 2026

SOUTH SHIELDS' OWN JOE McELDERRY WINS AT THE PANTOMIME AWARDS 2026

South Shields singer and performer Joe McElderry has taken home a coveted national accolade at The Pantomime Awards 2026, winning the Carmen Silvera Award for Best Magical Being for his role as the Spirit of the Ring in Aladdin at Newcastle Theatre Royal.

The awards ceremony, staged in partnership with Trafalgar Entertainment and ATG Entertainment, was held on Sunday 19 April at Wycombe Swan in High Wycombe and presented by Vernon Kay. Now in their fifth year, the awards saw the UK Pantomime Association's 64 judges collectively visit 234 venues across the country, taking in over 600 performances before casting their votes.

Joe McElderry, winner of the CARMEN SILVERA AWARD FOR BEST MAGICAL BEING at The Pantomime Awards 2026
Photo: Ian Olsson Photography

For Joe, this season at the Theatre Royal was a particularly special one. This year's production marked the 20th anniversary of Danny Adams, Clive Webb and writer/director Michael Harrison's panto partnership, and Joe was given the honour of opening the show with a number that celebrated that remarkable two-decade run. The ensemble appeared as a variety of characters from the shows' back catalogue, from Snow White and Hook through to the Beast, as Joe worked through the impressive history of the productions, with even one of the show's big special effects making an appearance during the opening number.

In his fifth year as part of the Theatre Royal panto cast, Joe has become as much a fixture of the Newcastle Christmas season as the Theatre Royal itself. When we spoke to him during the run, he was in no doubt about what makes this particular show stand apart from anything else on the panto circuit. "I've done panto shows all over the country but there is something so unique about Newcastle," he told us. "Such an impressive amount of people come every year, many booking before they've even seen the previous year's production. It's testament to what the team have built up here at Newcastle Theatre Royal over the years."

When we reviewed the show back in November, it was clear that the Aladdin production was something special. The show opened with an immediacy that left audiences struck by the lavish set, fresh lighting and hanging clouds — and it hadn't even properly begun yet. When it did, sublime costumes and special effects followed. The budget on the opening number alone was possibly greater than some entire panto productions.

Joe's role as the Spirit of the Ring placed him at the centre of the show's musical heart, and he spoke warmly about the unique energy that panto brings. "There are some great songs, some hilarious comedy scenes, and some fantastic special effects. It's really like a West End musical on stage here," he said. "We stand here in the wings in the parts when we're not on stage and we think: 'Wow!' It's such an incredible feeling to be a part of it."

Joe McElderry, winner of the CARMEN SILVERA AWARD FOR BEST MAGICAL BEING, at The Pantomime Awards 2026
Photo: Andrew Billington Photography

Much of what makes the Theatre Royal panto such an event is its willingness to evolve in front of the audience each night, something Joe clearly relishes. "With pantomime, the audience dictates what goes on. The pantomime evolves and changes throughout. We do eight weeks of shows, and each day something different happens, and it gets bigger and more outrageous!"

His performing relationship with Danny Adams has clearly been a key part of that spontaneity. "I never know what is coming next, but we've built up a good friendship, and we can look at each other with an eye contact and know where each other are going to go. That's a special relationship. I feel very lucky to have that. When you have that with another performer it's quite rare."

The production is not so much a show for fans of traditional storytelling — it is a grand, funny and sensational affair that considers its mission to be leaving the audience with a smile on their face and a warm feeling as they go. In Joe McElderry, that mission has a voice to match the spectacle, and the judges of the Pantomime Awards 2026 clearly agreed.

Congratulations, Joe — South Shields couldn't be prouder.

Tickets for the 2026/27 Theatre Royal Panto: https://www.theatreroyal.co.uk/whats-on/jack-and-the-beanstalk/

*Read our full review of Aladdin at Newcastle Theatre Royal: http://www.northeasttheatreguide.co.uk/2025/11/review-aladdin-at-newcastle-theatre.html and our interview with Joe McElderry http://www.northeasttheatreguide.co.uk/2026/01/the-theatre-royal-pantomime-joe.html.* 

Preview: Home, I’m Darling at South Shields Pier Pavillion

Home, I’m Darling 

South Shields Pier Pavillion

Wednesday 29 April - Saturday 2 May 2026

If you’ve been following the cultural conversation around tradwives – those women who have chosen to step back from careers and embrace the domestic ideals of a bygone era – then you’ll know the subject has never felt more timely. The Westovian Theatre Society have clearly got their finger on the pulse, then, because their latest production tackles the phenomenon head on. Home, I’m Darling, the Olivier award winning play by Laura Wade, arrives at the Pier Pavillion in South Shields later this month, and if the buzz surrounding it is anything to go by, it promises to be one of the highlights of the society’s already impressive season.

Image: Adam Ramsey.

The play will be familiar to many from its hugely successful West End run, where Katherine Parkinson – best known as Jen from The IT Crowd – led the cast in the central role of Judy. It’s a part that demands both comic precision and genuine emotional depth, and the production earned widespread critical acclaim for the way it balanced sharp wit with moments of real poignancy.

At its heart, Home, I’m Darling is the story of Judy, a woman who has made the deliberate and considered choice to leave the working world behind and recreate a kind of 1950s domestic idyll at home. The kitchen is pristine. The outfits are immaculate. The cocktails are mixed and waiting when her husband returns from the office. For Judy, this isn’t a compromise – it’s her dream. But as the play unfolds, questions begin to surface. About choice. About feminism. About privilege. About what we sacrifice, and for whom, when we pursue the life we think we want.

What makes Wade’s writing so effective is that it refuses to offer easy answers. The play doesn’t mock Judy, nor does it simply celebrate her. Instead it holds up her world for examination with a kind of affectionate, forensic intelligence – probing at the tensions between personal fulfilment and wider expectation, between the aesthetic appeal of the past and the very real reasons so many women fought to leave it behind. There’s warmth here, and humour, but also frustration and a genuine complexity that lingers well after the curtain comes down. And, in true 1950s style, there’s even a touch of dancing.

Auditorium
Photo: Westovian Theatre Society

For the Westovians, this production marks something of a milestone. Director Mike Harrison takes the helm of a society production for the very first time, and by his own account he’s been bowled over by what the cast have brought to the material. "I am thrilled to be directing this wonderful, sharp and witty play," he says, "which delves into the reality of expectation, finance and fidelity. The cast have fully embraced the comedy, gravity and stylisation of the play, and I am excited to welcome audiences to our wonderful theatre."

It’s a significant moment for a society that has been thrilling South Tyneside audiences for over a century. Based at the Pier Pavillion since 1977, the Westovians have built a formidable reputation for producing both new writing and classic work to a consistently high standard. Last season alone, they scooped seven NODA North District awards, and their spring production Fallen Angels was named a top three finalist for Best Amateur Production across the entire Northern region. Home, I’m Darling is the penultimate show of their current season, to be followed by Cluedo!, based on the beloved 1985 film and the Hasbro board game – quite the double bill to close things out.

Image: Adam Ramsey.

The show runs from Wednesday 29th April until Saturday 2nd May, with evening performances at 7.30pm and a Saturday matinee at 2pm. The Pier Pavillion is fully wheelchair accessible, with an accessible toilet and designated wheelchair spaces in the auditorium. The production is suitable for ages 12 and over, with a running time of two hours and fifteen minutes including interval.

Tickets

£15. Available online athttps://www.ticketsource.com/westovians/home-i-m-darling/e-yjmpor or in person at Sanddancer Clothing and The Word.

Preview: Hold The Line at Newcastle Alphabetti Theatre

Hold The Line
Newcastle Alphabetti Theatre 
Wednesday 29 April – Saturday 2 May 2026

Most people think of NHS 111 as the number you call when you are not quite sure whether that rash needs looking at, or when a temperature spikes in the small hours and you want reassurance. It is the quiet end of the healthcare spectrum, or so the assumption goes. But for the people on the other end of the line, the reality can be anything but routine. Hold the Line, the critically acclaimed two-person show from writer and performer Sam Macgregor, takes audiences into that hidden world, and it makes for gripping, uncomfortable, and often surprisingly funny theatre.

Inspired by Macgregor's own time working on the NHS 111 frontline, the play is set over the course of a single nightmare shift in a London call centre. Gary, a health adviser and something of an unlikely everyman, picks up what seems like a standard call from a panicked son whose father is slipping into a diabetic coma. From that moment, the shift spirals. Targets still have to be met. The next call is always a ring away. And Gary must somehow maintain composure as the emotional and moral weight of the job presses down on him with increasing force.

What makes Hold the Line work so well is its refusal to settle for easy sentiment. Macgregor understands the rhythms of call centre work from the inside, and the play captures with sharp precision the particular absurdity of a workplace where productivity metrics and human lives exist in constant, uncomfortable tension. The dialogue crackles with observational humour rooted in lived experience, and the comedy never feels forced or ill-judged. Instead it does what the best comedy in drama always does: it tells the truth about how people actually survive impossible situations.

Performed as a dynamic multi-role piece, the show gives both Macgregor and fellow performer Gabriela Chanova considerable range to explore. Chanova takes on multiple roles including Tara, Lee, Toni, and David, while Macgregor embodies Gary and Leigh alongside his duties as writer and co-producer. The result is a piece of theatre that feels genuinely alive on stage, shifting registers with confidence and never losing sight of the human stakes at its centre.

The show debuted at the Pleasance at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it was shortlisted for the Charlie Hartill Award and attracted an impressive clutch of four and five star reviews. The Times praised the way "shards of humour lighten the darkness," LondonTheatre1 awarded it five stars and called it "gripping and thoughtful," and One4Review described it as "quietly damning." It has since been nominated for an OffFEST (Offies) award in 2026. The Newcastle dates at Alphabetti Theatre represent the final stop on a short regional tour that has also taken in runs at Hope Theatre in London and Nottingham Arts Theatre, so the city is getting a show that has been road-tested and refined.

At its core, Hold the Line is asking a question that feels urgent right now. What does it mean to absorb the trauma of strangers, shift after shift, with no time to process or recover? What happens to the people tasked with holding a system together when the system gives them no support in return? Macgregor handles these themes without grandstanding. The politics are embedded in the detail, in the targets and the timesheets and the relentless ringing of phones, rather than delivered in speeches. It is, as The List put it, "heartfelt drama" that earns its emotional moments because it has done the work to get there.

This is the kind of show that reminds you what theatre is particularly good at: placing you in close proximity to a world you would not otherwise see, with characters who feel like real people rather than mouthpieces, and leaving you with something to think about long after the lights go up.

Cast and Creatives

Sam Harry Macgregor: Writer, Co-Producer, Gary and Leigh. 

Gabriela Chanova: Co-Producer, Tara, Lee, Toni, David. 

Laura Killeen: Director. 

Johnny Phethean: Sound Designer. 

Ruby Sevink-Johnson: Stage Manager. 

Sidney Smith: Prop Maker. 

Nalani Julien: Carpentry.

Tickets

Hold the Line runs at Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne from Wednesday 29 April to Saturday 2 May. Tickets and further information are available at https://www.alphabettitheatre.co.uk/hold-the-line 

Preview: Horrible Histories - The Concert at Sunderland Empire

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BAFTA Award-winning CBBC TV Series — Live on Stage

Horrible Histories - The Concert

Sunderland Empire

Friday 17 & Saturday 18 April 2026

For the very first time, your favourite songs and actors from the BAFTA Award-winning CBBC television series are appearing live — and dead! — on stage in a very special production that promises to be the ultimate introduction to live theatre for young audiences.

When William Shakespeare is tasked with creating the greatest show on earth, he has absolutely no idea how much trouble he is in for. Monstrous monarchs including King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, and Queen Victoria all have something to say about the proceedings — and things escalate spectacularly when Death himself steps into the spotlight. With Boudica and Cleopatra also muscling their way into proceedings, audiences can expect gloriously chaotic history served up with unstoppable showbiz energy.

“Don’t miss this unique chance to see the amazing TV actors singing the sensational TV songs — this is one show you won’t want to miss!”

Fronted by a live band led by Horrible Histories song maestro Richie Webb, this is a proper concert experience — audiences are positively encouraged to bring their singing voices and bellow along to beloved numbers from the series. Four performances across Friday evening and Saturday give plenty of chances to catch this one-of-a-kind Easter treat at Sunderland Empire.

Whether your little ones are obsessed with Stupid Deaths or can recite The Monarchs Song in their sleep, this is a rare chance to see the TV actors they adore performing those songs live on stage. A genuinely special Easter outing — and at under £20 a ticket, it is exceptional value for a fully staged production with a live band.

─  F E A T U R E D   S O N G S  ─

♩ Stupid Deaths  •  Charles II  •  Dick Turpin  •  The Monarchs Song  •  and many more!

─  W H O ' S   C O M I N G ?  ─

William Shakespeare  ߤ  King Henry VIII  ߤ  Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Victoria  ߤ  Death  ߤ  Boudica  ߤ  Cleopatra

─  A T   A   G L A N C E  ─

Show Horrible Histories: The Concert

Venue Sunderland Empire

Dates Friday 17 & Saturday 18 April 2025

Performances Four shows across the two days

★  Tickets under £20 still available — Easter holiday family fun  ★

Suitable for Families — ideal first concert for kids

Live Band Yes, led by Richie Webb

TICKET LINK

Review: 2:22 - A Ghost Story at Newcastle Theatre Royal

2:22 - A Ghost Story 

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Until Saturday 18 April 2026

2:22 A Ghost Story returns to Newcastle’s Theatre Royal for a week of screams, spooks and surprises. The production, which premiered in London in 2021, has already enjoyed incredible success, including a record-breaking UK tour in 2023-24 and the all-time record for the most transfers of a production in the West End. 

With all that success, I’m not really sure how I hadn’t already seen it - perhaps an avoidance of ghost stories, the big wimp that I am. Nevertheless, I finally put my big girl pants on and braved the spooky tale - and, despite a few hairy moments where I genuinely jumped out of my seat, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. 

The show revolves around Jenny and Sam, a young couple who have recently moved into and renovated a flat in London, where they live with their young daughter. Jenny invites over an old friend, Lauren, and her new partner, Ben, under the guise of dinner and to meet the baby, but Jenny has an ulterior motive. For the past few days, she has been convinced of a presence in the house, and that every night, at 2:22 precisely, she can hear footsteps circling the cot of their daughter. Sam, ever the rational scientist, is entirely unconvinced, attempting to explain away all of Jenny’s concerns. Lauren and Ben commit to staying up with Jenny until 2:22, to work out once and for all just what is happening. 

What ensues is an alcohol-fuelled evening of suspense, exploring each person’s own personal beliefs about the supernatural, whilst uncovering the tensions and intricacies of the intertwined relationships. Expect seances, jump-scares and remarkably smooth scene changes that will make you question whether they really do have a ghost working with the stage crew. 

One thing that 2:22 has become synonymous with is celebrity casts. Previous companies have included journalist and presenter Stacey Dooley, Kevin Clifton of Strictly fame and TV presenter Laura Whitmore, with Newcastle’s own Cheryl treading the boards in the 2023 Lyric Theatre run. Whilst such star names have certainly brought in big audiences, I was quietly pleased to have a more traditional cast of theatre and TV actors, the most well-known of the cast probably being James Bye, famous for his decade-long stint as Martin Fowler in Eastenders. Without big celebrity names whose faces and indeed voices I was familiar with, the show for me was a blank canvas, allowing me to fully focus on the show and experience itself. 

The show itself is gripping, and at just 50 minutes per act, is really the perfect length for a ghost story. The play moves at a good pace, though I would have liked the two couples to have experienced a couple of evenings (and a couple of 2:22am frights!) together, rather than just the one night. The clocks on stage really do add to the tension - you find yourself clinging tighter to your glass of wine as the time ticks ever onwards towards the show’s eponymous witching hour. As you would expect, there is a big twist - but I won’t be giving you any clues! I certainly didn’t see it coming, and it does tie the play up rather nicely - if a little too neatly for my liking. 

   

As a self-confessed wimp, ghost stories are something I tend to avoid, but I cannot deny that I thoroughly enjoyed my evening at 2:22. Whilst I could have done without the blood-curdling screams that accompanied every blackout, I was intrigued and, most-importantly, entertained throughout - I even managed to sleep reasonably well afterwards! Whether you are a fan of ghost tales or simply braving something new, 2:22 A Ghost Story is a gripping show that will keep you guessing until the very end. 

Review: Hannah Daglish

Photos: Helen Murray

Tickets:

2:22 - A Ghost Story plays Newcastle Theatre Royal Monday 13 – Saturday 18 April 2026. Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.