2:22

Plays like 2:22 interest me. They aren’t the sort of thing that live at the top of my watchlist. But their long running successes leave me wondering what it is that motivates such an appetite for a continued audience. I think part of 2:22’s allure is the notable casting choices, Lily Allen, Laura Whitmore and now Cheryl (once Tweedy, once Cole, once Fernandez-Versini, now just mononymous) have all played ‘Jenny’ and it was the casting of the latter that left me interested in finally popping along to the Lyric and buying a ticket. 

I don’t have much to say on the cast, other than I’m very pleased they got to do it and I hope they enjoyed themselves. Cheryl seemed like she was having a ball wailing and screaming obsenities around the stage and for that I am thrilled. It has been sometime since Cheryl last had a number one hit, or decorated the judging panel of ‘The X Factor’, so I for one was pleased she’d found herself in employment again.

What I really loved was the set. I’m really digging these sets around at the moment like ‘Shirley Valentine’ and to an extent ‘The Unfriend’ that offer an awful lot of functionality. It does make me feel like I am in the room with them and I’m soaking in the atmosphere. It’s a great way of luring the audience in and keeping them engaged with the piece. My only bug bear with the decoration was that for the sort of people that the characters are, I can’t help but imagine they’d have done a bit more tidying up first. The place looked scruffy, and Jenny’s biggest sin was leaving the skirting rail half painted before going to bed. Finish what you started love!!

The sound was frankly odd, and a little unnecessary. There were random screams out of nowhere which in honesty took me out of the experience, rather than enhance it. It was almost like it knew that the text wasn’t scary enough in itself and it needed some support to frighten the audience (in an unconvincing way).

I thought the lighting on the other hand was effective. The red strobing light echoed the digital alarm clock that has become instantly recognisable with the play. It felt like good theming and I really appreciated that.

Didn’t adore the plot entirely. There was a lot of conversations that felt like they didn’t drive the plot very far. A lot of it is suspense building which left me a bit cold. Much of the dialogue rehashes the previous scene but in a different way. I was pleased by the resolution. I didn’t really expect it and we left asking loads of questions as we tried to piece together various suspect plot points. This left me with the feeling that whilst I didn’t love the play, I enjoyed the night out as a whole. We later got food at ‘Maxwells’ in Covent Garden (12/10 - highly recommend) and the waiter upon noticing our programme was very interested in our thoughts about the play but mostly Cheryl. I think their tactic is working and bizarrely I think long may it continue. I for one can’t wait to see Amanda from ‘The Traitors’ have a go at Jenny.

⏰⏰/5

2:22 continues to play at the Lyric until the 23rd April before transferring to the Apollo from the 14th May.