2:22 – A Ghost Story
Reviewed by Dana Martin
The Ahmanson Theater
Through December 4
The Ahmanson Theater is hosting poltergeist. 2:22- A Ghost Story, Danny Robins’ newest psychological thriller, is an unsettling romp through a proper haunted house. The show is making its U.S. premiere after a successful West End run last year.
New mom Jenny (Constance Wu) has concluded that her new house is haunted. Jenny and her husband Sam (Finn Wittrock) have recently purchased a house together at Sam’s insistence. Sam sees the Boston area property as an opportunity for upgrade and renovation while Jenny worries about disrupting the building’s legacy.
Sam has just returned from a business trip that is shrouded in mystery and unanswered questions which plague Jenny. While he was away, Jenny discovers, to her horror, a ghost appearing in their infant daughter’s room every night at the same time: 2:22 a.m. This recent paranormal development has put the couple deeply at odds, so when they invite guests for a dinner party a few nights later — Sam’s college friend Lauren (Anna Camp) and her new boyfriend Ben (Adam Rothenberg) — Jenny convinces the reluctant couple to hunker down with her until the witching hour so they can all bear witness to the wandering spirit haunting her daughter’s room.
It’s a dinner party gone ghoulishly awry, fueled by paranoia and an excessive amount of alcohol. Sam is vehemently opposed to the idea of confronting any supposed poltergeist but wants to remain a vigilant and protective new parent. He has strange chemistry with his old pal Lauren, and he’s hypercritical of her new beau Ben, the hardworking blue-collar Boston native with keen observational skills and penchant for the paranormal. Sam spares no opportunity to insult Ben and undermine him, intentionally driving a wedge between Ben and Lauren who behave more like acquaintances than lovers anyway. Meanwhile Jenny is frazzled by her own paranoia in the midst of new parenthood, not to mention her husband’s questionable behavior — and she slowly unravels as her hyper-vigilance wears her down.
Constance Wu finds a likeable though tense and perpetually stressed Jenny. She exudes much energy maintaining the overarching sense of danger and dread the story requires. Anna Camp’s party-loving Lauren is often exaggerated. She does her best to fill out the character that is written one dimensionally. Finn Wittrock’s self-assured Sam attempts to dominate the other characters by repeatedly raising his voice. Adam Rothenberg’s Ben, the only native Bostonian, has the most depth and interesting inner life of the foursome and becomes the story’s unintentional hero.
Matthew Dunster’s direction is robust and generally expansive. The actors maintain breakneck speed most of the time so still quiet moments are tense and uncomfortable. Character subtext and stolen private moments where underlying motive is revealed create the story’s most unsettling aspects, though there are also plenty of jump scares throughout. The first one is extremely effective but the method is used so liberally and so often throughout the evening that it becomes more comical than scary.
Anna Fleischle’s set design is a sprawling Boston apartment in semi-disrepair that looms large and serves as another character in the story. The apartment possesses secrets and mysteries within its walls that threaten to come to light as the neighborhood is gentrified. Lighting design by Lucy Carter, recreated by Sean Gleason, is bold and dramatic. The stage is bordered by a red neon frame that glows ominously in transitions, adding a sense of danger. The elements of fog and an automatic outdoor sensor light are surprisingly effective. Ian Dickinson’s sound design adds underlying suspense, while the musical underscore has a cinematic effect and maintains a sense of feeling ill-at-ease throughout the evening. The repeated use of screams to punctuate each scene’s conclusion becomes tiresome and stressful. Cindy Lin’s costume design is straightforward and indicative of each character.
2:22- A Ghost Story has all the makings of a thrilling night at the theatre. Robins’ snappy dialogue is at times overwritten and the characters too often fall into argument as a means of building suspense rather than actually adding depth or perspective to the story. But the play certainly achieves tension and there is an element of mystery that unfolds rather unexpectedly. Upon leaving the theatre I was left with more questions than answers, mostly about the plot, but all part of the fun of a psychological thriller
Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles; Tues.- Fri., 8 p.m., Sat., 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sun., 1 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.; Through Dec. 4th. (213) 972-4400 or centertheatregroup.org. Running time: 2 hours with one intermission.
