It Walks Around the House at Night review – a pretend ghost gets really spooked

2026-02-06 - 16:25

Minerva theatre, Chichester Tim Foley’s ghost story brings an out of work actor to a country manor to burnish the myth of its resident wraith. Jump scares await There is a twinkling irony to the setup of Tim Foley’s ghost story: an out of work actor is enlisted to play the role of a ghost for a week, only to become haunted himself. Joe (George Naylor) is employed by David, a handsome stranger, to circle the grounds of Paragon Hall in order to perpetuate the myth of the country estate’s resident restless soul. What a great gig – he can pay off at his debts with what he earns and exercise his actorly muscles. Of course, Joe gradually begins to wonder if he is the only ghost walking through the woodlands surrounding Paragon Hall, but this drama by touring company ThickSkin does not go the way you think it may. It blends the gothicism of a 19th-century literary haunting with modern horror film jumps and bumps. Continue reading...