Review: It Walks Around the House at Night
@ Southwark Playhouse Borough until March 28th 2026
Director: Neil Bettles
Writer: Tim Foley
Cast: George Naylor, Oliver Baines & Paul Hilton (voice)
Horror is very tricky to get right on stage. Too much of a reliance on jump scares and stage trickery can lead to accusations of gimmickry, while not enough can kill the atmosphere stone dead. It Walks Around the House at Night, a touring production from ThickSkin that is currently in residence at Southwark Playhouse Borough, is an admirable and likeable effort that manages to strike the balance just about right, creating an atmosphere of low-level fear that persists throughout the whole show, even as the narrative starts to unravel when the secrets and mysteries of what is happening begin to reveal themselves.
a (mostly) one-man show about a young man who recounts his experience of taking an acting job playing a ghost for a wealthy landowner, manages to
, though the narrative does unravel a little as the truth of what’s happening starts to reveal itself.
George Naylor, who serves as both the narrator and main performer, is a charismatic, engaging lead, and he is able to straddle a fine line between a sort of jaded millennial cynicism and genuine fear.
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Score: ⭐⭐⭐