Starring as Jenny in the 2026 UK tour of 2:22 – A Ghost Story, Shvorne Marks promises: “Audiences are in for a really fun night out at the theatre, with a bit of something for everyone. It’s funny, it’s scary, it can be quite emotional at times, and it brings in such a range of people from mums and dads to young kids and grandparents.”
Shvorne knows what she’s talking about. She previously played Lauren opposite Stacey Dooley on the 2025 tour and was thrilled with the reaction that Danny Robins’ edge-of-the-seat thriller triggers in theatregoers.
“It has such a massive following,” she marvels. “Many people have seen it loads of times already and they keep coming back for more. It really makes you jump, and to hear them screaming in the audience is brilliant. You get that nervous laughter from people who have just been jolted out of their skin and, without giving spoilers, I’ve seen them crying too. During the scene changes you can hear the audience members talking to each other and trying to work out what they think is going on. It’s electrifying and exciting.”
Premiering in 2021, 2:22 is a chilling and gripping thriller revolving around young mother Jenny and her husband Sam (James Bye), who have recently moved into a house that they are in the process of renovating.
Every night at precisely 2:22am they hear strange, scary sounds, and Jenny is convinced the house is haunted but Sam is having none of it. When their old friend Lauren (Natalie Casey) and her new partner Ben (Gary Lucy) come round for dinner belief and scepticism clash and they agree to stay up until 2:22 to try and find out what’s really going on.
Shvorne describes Jenny as a kind, caring, smart, funny woman who has nonetheless lost her way a little. “Her husband Sam is very intelligent and very opinionated, and he has sort of overshadowed her. She navigating who she is and trying to find her feet as a mother in a new home. There’s a lot of changes for her to contend with.” Shvorne laughs. “Oh and she thinks there’s a ghost in the house!”
Written by Danny Robins, creator of the hit BBC podcast and TV series Uncanny, and directed by Matthew Dunster, 2:22 – A Ghost Story won Best New Play at the Whatsonstage Awards, was nominated for three Oliviers and has been hailed by The Guardian as “a slick, chilling romp of a play”.
It started out at the Noël Coward Theatre in London and has since enjoyed seven seasons in the West End. With 12 replica productions worldwide, it has been seen by more than 1.1 million people in 17 countries across five continents. The show headed out on its first UK tour in 2023 and in 2026 it is back on the road, returning to towns and cities it has previously played as well as visiting new venues.
Shvorne was a series regular on Endeavour and has also appeared in Breeders, Get Millie Back and Three Little Birds, while her stage CV includes Beautiful Thing, The Women of Llanrumney and A Profoundly Affectionate, Passionate Devotion to Someone.
With 2:22 she’s excited to be switching roles for the 2026 tour, saying: “I planted the seed of me playing Jenny when I saw Stacey in the rehearsal room and thought ‘I could do that role and I could have a lot of fun with it’. Without blowing my own trumpet, I’m pretty versatile. The great thing about Danny’s writing is that he leaves room for you to bring your own take to the material. He gives you room to play, so my Jenny is very different to Stacey’s.”
Shvorne’s Jenny is also very different to her Lauren. “Lauren is more dominating, more outspoken and disruptive, while Jenny is a lot calmer and more thoughtful. It’s a fun contrast to explore.”
Jenny is on team believe when it comes to ghosts and the supernatural, and so is Shvorne. “I’m not messing with the ghosts, man!” she declares, adding that she had “a weird experience” when she was performing at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.
“There was an area in the green room that I feel was someone’s home,” she elaborates. “I was talking with one of the other actors about whether or not we thought the theatre was haunted, and we both looked at each other and went ‘water cooler’. I hadn’t told anyone but every time I went to the water cooler in that room I just felt that there was another spirit around me, and so did she.”
Shvorne is a 2:22 veteran, whereas James Bye is coming to it fresh. Signing on to play Jenny’s husband Sam, he confesses to never having seen it on stage before. “And maybe that’s a blessing, because I didn’t have any preconceptions,” he ponders. “I know lots of people who have been in it and they all had an amazing time. I also know lots of people who have seen it and every single one of them said it was great. Then I read it and saw what a special piece of theatre it is.”
He was also hooked in by the idea of playing Sam. “Without giving too much away, he’s the antagonist. He’s the non-believer of the group. All of the others have either had supernatural experiences or they come from a place of faith or belief.” But Sam is a university lecturer in astronomy and he’s a physicist. “So he is from a scientific background and he has an explanation for everything. He’s the guy who rubs everyone up the wrong way.”
James smiles. “That makes him a lot of fun to play. I’m not saying that he’s not a nice guy, it’s just that he has strong beliefs and he doesn’t mind telling people what they are. As well as being really scary, the play is also very witty and it has some comedic moments, several of which stem from Sam’s sarcasm.”
Is James himself on team believe or team sceptic? “I honestly don’t know,” he muses. “I can’t say that I’ve ever had any experiences with the supernatural and when people tell me that they have there is a slight skepticism in my head, but it doesn’t mean I don’t believe them. For me it’s like ‘There’s got to be something else out there’ even if I haven’t encountered it myself.”
The actor first came to fame as Martin Fowler in EastEnders when he joined the show in 2014. The character was killed off in February 2025, which James sees as a mixed blessing. “I loved being in EastEnders and I loved working with all my colleagues throughout the decade that I was on the show. I got to do some cracking storylines.”
But after competing on Strictly Come Dancing he did his first ever panto, when he played the Prince in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Aylesbury Theatre in 2023. “And it reminded me how much I love doing theatre. I trained in that world [at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art] and it was brilliant being back on stage. Not being tied into a long-running show like EastEnders has freed me up to do more plays.”
After leaving Albert Square, James starred as Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy in the UK tour of Death Comes to Pemberley. “I’d done a few plays before,” says the actor whose theatre credits include The Rendezvous, Tea and Sympathy and The Strange Case of Donovan Gray. “But it was my first time touring and I adored it. There’s something about going from venue to venue. Getting different audiences’ reactions up and down the country keeps it really fresh. Now I get to do it again in 2:22 and I can’t wait.”
He smiles. “The characters are such polar opposites, as are the costumes. This is a contemporary play, so I’m in far more comfortable clothes and the language is much more manageable.”
You can catch Shvorne and James in 2:22 A Ghost Story at Norwich Theatre Royal between 26 – 31 Jan. For more information or to book, visit norwichtheatre.org or call the Box Office on 01603 630 000.
