It Walks Around The House At Night – an intriguing theatrical horror that loses its way

Out-of-work actors are always hopeful that the next job is just around the corner. So when Joe meets a mysterious man in the pub where he works and is offered two thousand pounds for just five nights of acting work, he jumps at the opportunity.

The job? To walk around the perimeter of a countryside manor each night, pretending to be a ghost.

But as the nights pass, Joe begins to feel that he may not be alone after all and the question soon becomes: how much is it worth staying?

Written by Manchester-based playwright Tim Foley, this “theatrical horror” stars George Naylor as Joe (The Actor) in what is essentially a one-person show.

Sitting in his small cabin on the outskirts of the mansion, Joe recounts how he came to take the job. The audience quickly buys into the story and when shadows begin to appear, you find yourself genuinely rooting for him to survive. Naylor’s performance deserves real credit, not least for the sheer amount of dialogue he must deliver – without a teleprompter in sight.

The tension is briefly broken when we meet “The Dancer”, Joe’s predecessor in the role, played beautifully by Oliver Baines. Having once been hired for the same strange job, he appears with a warning about what might lie ahead.

The production is directed by Neil Bettles, though some of the staging choices feel slightly odd. Joe spends a surprising amount of time dressing and undressing, to the point where it becomes unintentionally comical. A chase scene also features an unnecessary harness and rope system that allows Joe to appear as though he is running, rather than simply acting the moment. Meanwhile, props frequently seem to emerge from beneath conveniently placed bed sheets and when Joe heads outside for a daytime picnic, he is still wearing half of his nighttime costume, which feels inconsistent.

The set design, however, is charming. The crooked cabin, placed on a tilted floor, looks like something out of a storybook and even features a magical fridge that is capable of storing more than just food.

Unfortunately, by the end of what feels like three hours (though it actually runs closer to ninety minutes), the story becomes increasingly confusing and messy. Plot twists arrive that feel as though they have been added almost as an afterthought, before the show concludes with a bizarre final message to the audience that begins intriguingly but ultimately leaves you wondering what exactly just happened.

It Walks Around The House At Night doesn’t quite seem to know what it wants to be. At times it feels like two separate stories awkwardly merged together. Despite strong performances and effective lighting that creates some genuinely eerie shadows and scares, this theatrical horror ultimately left me more confused than frightened.

★★

Reviewed by West End Wilma

It Walks Around The House At Night is playing at Southwark Playhouse (Borough) until Saturday 28 March 2026.