A hauntingly immersive theatre experience, It Walks Around The House at Night is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling, chilling performances and innovative stagecraft, writes RACHAEL ELIZABETH
Writer: Tim Foley
Theatre: ThickSkin Theatre – The Engine Room, Wigan
Date: Monday, 27 October 2025
Cast: George Naylor (Joe) and Oliver Baines (The Dancer)
This October I made sure I surrounded myself with all things creepy and kooky, so when “It Walks Around The House at Night” popped up on my Facebook feed, I couldn’t ignore it.
The story is about a struggling actor, Joe (George Naylor), who is approached by a “handsome stranger” during his bartending shifts; the stranger offers him an “unusual, but well-paid gig”, and Joe jumps at the chance.
Given a lodge to live in for five days whilst he walks the grounds of an old countryside manor, Joe begins to sense that something else might be walking the grounds with him…
I have been to many theatre productions, but none that so immediately immersed me in a spooky, alternative world; upon entering The Engine Room Theatre, we were met by eerie music drifting across a red, backlit industrial room, the spookiness shrouding our shoulders as we approached the bar.
It was incredible to see the work at The Engine Room as this offers a chance for an immersive and intimate ThickSkin experience, before the It Walks Around The House At Night tours to mid-scale venues around the country.
Once the show was ready to begin, the audience was led behind a black curtain to the stage area; the stage visible, a low-it blue/grey room with smoke dancing across beams of light. The audience, although a sold out show, was an intimate one – small due to the venue size, but this added to the atmosphere, a sense of foreboding that we were all in this together.
The play starts, and we are introduced to Joe (George Naylor): the play is told from Joe’s point of view as he explains how this handsome man approached him, offering him this amazing, but slightly peculiar gig… to play a ghost, walking the grounds of an old manor house in the countryside.
Artistic Direction
The stage consists of a slanted, raised floor, with the outside decorated with gravel and twisted vines; on the inside there is a bed, a bedside table, and a fridge.
Although the stage is relatively small, the way the space is used on the inside of the room (and on the outside, as you watch Joe frantically wander around the grounds), was amazing. The use of lighting to determine when doors were opening, day was turning to night, and even a dropped phone shining up in the woodland, was brilliantly done – another wonderful touch was to have “Walk one”, “Walk Two”, etc projected upon the back wall for each segment (accompanied by a cheeky jump scare).
Another aspect of the play that I found truly amazing was the use of sound. Even little tricks such as Joe listening to a foreboding message on his phone, ringing out through bassy speakers, followed by a cleverly implemented EQ sweep to reveal that it was coming from his phone – a similar technique is used when music from Joe’s airpods sounds quiet and tinny, before filling the room with music to imply the character’s perspective.
While these are somewhat simple touches, they added so much to the room, the play, and to the audience experience.
It is a ghost story, so yes, there are quite a few jumpscares! A few at the beginning felt a little bit predictable, but it didn’t dampen the atmosphere – then there were the jumpscares that you didn’t see coming!
But it wasn’t just about jumpscares, the way movement was used on stage, someone (or something) appearing after a flash of darkness, or long black claws that stretched from the headboard of the bed, also served a great skin-tingling experience of fear. The scares never felt lazy, which can sometimes be the case for onstage ghost stories.
There are two scenes that particularly stuck with me: the dream sequence, and a scene in which Joe is dancing in the gloomy woodland – The dream sequence progresses after Joe has a fright during one of his ghostly strolls.
Haunting music and flashing lights see him move almost fluidly into different, uncomfortable-to-watch paralysis and poses, before being awakened by his mobile phone.
The humorous dancing scene shows Joe dancing in the woodland to music, to help calm his nerves – it’s big, and bright, exactly how you think he is picturing it in his head, before the scene changes to the realistic view of Joe dancing in the moody forest, tinny music ringing out from his headphones – a humorous touch, perfect for creating a bit of distance from the quickly progressing horror.
The Performances
The show runs for 90 minutes, with no interval – which brings me onto my next point: the acting.
The performance by George Naylor is, in my opinion, phenomenal; he instantly absorbs the audience in the palm of his hand as he takes you on his horrifying journey, with such a fluid way of moving, and delivery of his lines – whether to strike fear into you as he feels it, or for a cheeky delivered joke, you can’t help getting lost in his words, feeling his trepidation, but also the darker side of his struggles.
The fact he is able to give this performance, that not once falters for 90 minutes straight, is truly unbelievable.
The second actor in the play, Oliver Baines, who plays the dancer, is a silent participant, but equally important – the way he moves during the dance scene, and his movements under the black rags as the ‘creature’ perfectly project an eerie and haunting character; although he has no spoken words, his performance is just as enthralling through expressive dance, and creepy loitering, and jumpscares as the demon in the woods.
In Conclusion
It Walks Around The House at Night is an amalgamation of brilliant writing by Tim Foley, amazing acting from Naylor and Baines, clever lighting and sound design, and perfectly spooky set design, which all form together to create an incredible story brought to life right before your eyes.
I came out of the play enamoured with almost every aspect, and was even luckily enough to speak to George Naylor (AKA Joe) after the fact, but one thing kept coming to my mind: more people need to see this.
It is such a well done play, it feels like it should be shown on theatre stages all over the UK, bigger stages, more audience members, but what I find myself torn over is, would the expansion of the stage and audience take away from the intimacy? It did feel like the closeness of the audience to the stage was a unique aspect, and special in the sense that you feel as though Joe is telling you the story – so, would a grander stage take that away?
However, one thing I am not torn on is how everyone needs to go and see this production; from the writing, to the performances, to the artistic direction, it ticked every spooky box possible.
It truly was one of the best ghost stories that I have seen on stage, and I am begging you, should you get the chance, you must go and see It Walks Around The House at Night.
(Just don’t accept any too-good-to-be-true job offers from a handsome stranger at the bar).
