It Walks Around the House at Night is a new play by Tim Vine, February 4th 2026 was the first performance. The play takes a Gothic Horror landscape and a handful of characters and places them in 2026.

George Naylor in the role of Joe is an out-of-work actor who works in a bar dealing with all the disgusting delights that this job entails. Joe is a confident and reliable storyteller. He doesn’t tell you to believe in ghosts just to watch with an open mind.

He addresses the audience throughout the play breaking through the fourth wall when he retells the story of his strangest and most frightening “acting” job he has ever been asked to perform.

A handsome stranger walks into the bar where Joe works, beguiling him with his smile and good looks. How can Joe decline a generous offer of two thousand pounds for a haunting job for just one week to scare the strangers nieces in his family estate.

If something seems too good to be true then the chances are it usually is and this job lives up to this saying! From the first walk Joe takes on Monday night. He knows that he isn’t alone and that there is more to this job than he initially thought or was informed of.

However, as the week goes on he realises he is not alone! When Joe finally communicates with the Dancer (Oliver Baines) who has tried to follow him. The real job objective becomes clear and it becomes a race against time to finish what he started and to find out the truth behind the handsome stranger.

There are as expected in a play advertised as “spine chilling” some jump scares and scenes that anyone with a nervous disposition will find unnerving throughout the play and the storyline leaves the audience with no loose ends.

It Walks Around the House at Night has a promising future on the stage. Although a theatre size like the Minerva Theatre in Chichester is about the largest they ought to aim for to give audiences the maximum “scare” impact from the play. This play would also work well as a radio play adaptation.

For more information about It Walks Around the House at Night and future productions at Chichester Festival Theatre please use the link below.

Five Stars.

Photo credit Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.

https://www.cft.org.uk/events/it-walks-around-the-house-at-night

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