It Walks Around The House At Night London Premiere at Southwark Playhouse Borough – ThickSkin Ghost Story 2026

Grace Hatchell here, moving very carefully through this one because the last thing you want with a ghost story is to stomp about announcing your presence. This delivery has atmosphere, attitude and a habit of lurking just out of sight.

This March, the rather chilling It Walks Around The House At Night creeps into Southwark Playhouse Borough for its London premiere, and Grace can already feel the temperature drop. Running from Wednesday 4 March to Saturday 28 March 2026, with a press night on Monday 9 March, the production arrives fresh from a sold-out UK tour, which suggests audiences up and down the country have already been suitably spooked.

The show comes from award-winning theatre company ThickSkin and is written by Manchester-based playwright Tim Foley, a man who clearly enjoys unsettling people in the dark. If the title alone hasn’t made you glance over your shoulder, the promise of jump scares, dark humour and creeping dread certainly will. Grace’s professional advice is to leave the bravado at the door.

At the centre of the story is Joe, played by George Naylor, an out-of-work actor stuck pulling pints and wondering where it all went wrong. Grace has seen this type before. When a rich stranger offers him a suspiciously well-paid gig during a particularly dull bar shift, Joe does what many of us might do and says yes without asking enough questions. Immediately, Grace is concerned.

Joe’s new role involves playing a ghost at an old countryside manor. Easy money, he thinks. A few fake frights, a bit of atmosphere, job done. Grace knows better, and so will the audience, because nothing involving an old house, a ghost costume and a stranger with too much money ever ends quietly. Before long, Joe discovers that the terrors roaming the grounds at night are very real indeed.

Adding to the unease is Oliver Baines as The Dancer, a presence that ensures Joe’s night spirals from awkward to outright terrifying. Grace particularly enjoys horror that lets you laugh just before it pulls the rug from under you, and this production promises exactly that sort of mischief. Expect jump scares that arrive when you’ve just relaxed, and moments that make you wonder if the noise came from the stage or somewhere behind you.

Tim Foley has said he’s delighted the show is settling in at Southwark Playhouse Borough, describing it as a horror mystery full of twists and turns. Grace would like to underline the word mystery, because this is very much a show that enjoys keeping secrets until the last possible moment.

The production is directed by ThickSkin’s Artistic Director Neil Bettles, whose previous work includes How Not To Drown and Disney’s Bedknobs & Broomsticks. Grace finds it deeply reassuring and slightly alarming that the same director can handle both magical flying beds and creeping dread. The show’s eerie atmosphere is crafted by Tony Award-winning sound designer Pete Malkin and Olivier Award-winning video and lighting designer Joshua Pharo, which means the tension doesn’t just happen on stage, it hums in the air around you.

Behind it all is ThickSkin, Wigan’s award-winning theatre company and the team behind Driftwood and How Not To Drown. Grace has long admired their commitment to bold storytelling, new writing and touring work that doesn’t play it safe. They have a knack for taking familiar ideas and twisting them just enough to leave you unsettled, and It Walks Around The House At Night fits that reputation perfectly.

So if you fancy an evening where your heart rate does most of the work and your imagination fills in the gaps long after you’ve left the theatre, this one’s for you. Grace will be delivering this particular warning gently but firmly: once It Walks Around The House At Night gets under your skin, don’t be surprised if you listen a little harder for footsteps on the way home.

Tickets are available from
https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/it-walks-around
the-house-at-night