2:22 A Ghost Story cast are Team Regional Theatre as they head out on tour

Nothing screams a great night of entertainment like scaring yourself silly.

It’s why, for years and years, audiences have flocked into dark, cramped spaces to bear witness to some scarily classic theatre shows.

The Woman in Black haunted the Fortune Theatre for 33 years (and continues to do so on tour), while Ghost Stories has become a modern classic, sold on its very premise, just like Danny Robins’s WhatsOnStage Award-winning 2:22 A Ghost Story. The titles are a dead giveaway, enticing flocking audiences.

For those unfamiliar, 2:22 centres on friends at a dinner party who stay awake through the night to prove or debunk the idea of paranormal activity in the home at 2:22am. It begs the question: Are you a believer or a skeptic?

Building a reputation through its ever-changing, and often unpredictable cast, which has included the likes of Lily Allen, Jake Wood (both of whom picked up WhatsOnStage Awards for their performances), Mandip Gill, Matt Willis, and even Cheryl, each rotation attracts a new lot of audiences.

Documentary-maker and author Stacey Dooley, never one to shy away from a challenge, made her stage debut in the West End production last year. “I thought it would be a perfect entry route into theatre because there were so many paralells,” she explains, having first seen the show when she was pregnant. “Jenny is a new mum who’s trying to suss it all out. She’s breastfeeding, she’s knackered, she’s just got this new house…”

Anyone who follows Dooley’s life and career will be aware that she welcomed her daughter, Minnie, a couple of years back with real-life dance partner turned life partner, and now stage partner, Kevin Clifton, who’s joining her for the tour. The two met after becoming champs on Strictly Come Dancing, and coincidentally, they’re also doing up the family home (from Instagram, it is gorgeous).

Dooley and Clifton are the first real-life couple to play the husband and wife duo in 2:22‘s history, which includes shows in LA, across the UK, and in five theatres in the West End. “I love Jenny, she really finds herself in the end. But, she is a bit more placid than I am, especially when it comes to her dynamic with her condescending husband!” she laughs.

They’re joined on stage by Shvorne Marks and Grant Kilburn, who is no stranger to the show.

Dooley has travelled the world, experiencing both its horrors and its beauty, though the paranormal isn’t a topic she has explored before. She likens the act of making documentaries to 2:22 A Ghost Story, explaining: “Ultimately, it’s about coming into situations with an open mind.”

“This play is asking, where do you sit? When you’re making a documentary, you’re going into a situation where you might have a very definite idea of what you think, but it’s your job to listen to the opposing side and try to understand how they’ve arrived at that opinion. I’ve found that very useful.”

It’s true of Robins’ play, too. The two couples find more questions than answers as their thoughts on the supernatural act as a launch pad for all sorts of conversations, exposing fractures not only in the old house, but in their relationships.

She continued: “Rarely, something’s definitely black or definitely white, and two things can be true at the same time. It helps with this story.”

Marks explains how everyone in the audience will be able to see someone they know in one of the characters, in how they present themselves and their beliefs. Like Ben, a cocky London builder, has a soft spot for his mum: “Well, everyone knows a Ben, don’t they?” Kilburn comments.

Lauren, an American psychotherapist, will be wearing heels at all times. Dooley, who has “been wearing hoops since she was four,” wants her Jenny to be more fashion-forward: “Just because she’s a mum in her thirties doesn’t mean she has to wear a floral dress.”

Meanwhile, Clifton has been “going method” and wearing a checked shirt in rehearsals for his Sam.

He’s a real “superfan” of the show, checking off the casts he’s seen – Sam Swainsbury and Tom Felton are mentioned. He muses: “2:22 hits a sweet spot. At the surface level, there’s a lot happening, but there are deep bits, and you need to explore what’s going on.”

He continues: “It makes you think. You can go home and have a good conversation about ghosts and what they might be and whether you believe, but when you’re watching it, there’s a lot of fast-paced action all the time.”

It’s a technical show that Marks says has “lots of spinning plates,” with timing being truly of the essence. “Sometimes we’re so locked into a scene and very intensely into it, and then we get to the end of it and realise there’s a glass still on that table and it has to be over there otherwise the next bit doesn’t work!”

All four of the performers are looking forward to seeing how the audience reacts, especially to the play’s climax. There’ll be no spoilers here – or anywhere – it’s a charm that the show has managed to maintain. Speaking of her stint in the West End, Dooley claps in excitement: “When we hear audible gasps, I just think ‘we got them!'”

Kilburn agrees, and it’s part of the reason he has stuck with the show in previous runs. “I love that audiences can have the back and forth and debates and suss out what they believe,” he says. Travelling regionally with the show will allow even more audiences to have that.

“I will say that some of the places we’re visiting, some of the audiences are going to be so much more generous and raucous and invested than a West End crowd,” he guesses, alluding to the fact that the West End can attract tourists who see productions by chance rather than choice. “People in Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol… they’re often more up for a good night, and it makes the experience so much more special for both the cast and them.”

Clifton, who has toured extensively in musicals – this is his first play – comments: “Each audience has its own frequency, and I love finding it… In some places, people will laugh and in others, they won’t. In some cities, they might be shocked, but in others they won’t be… There’s a buzz and an energy in regional theatres. Everyone bought their tickets months ago or got them as Christmas presents rather than walking past and going ‘Oh. What’s that about? Let’s see if it’s any good?’ Instead, they’ve been looking forward to it.”

Dooley says sincerely: “I don’t want to get on my high horse, but I do fundamentally believe that regional theatre is really important.” She’s one of the few performers to take a role on tour after playing it in London, and follows in the footsteps of Jodie Comer‘s high-profile Prima Facie reprise, proving the vital power of the nation’s theatres.

“It’s really important that quality plays are taken to regional theatres. I feel very strongly about that.”