Making an appearance – of a social rather than a spectral nature – at the dress rehearsal of 2:22 A Ghost Story at the People’s Theatre on Friday night was none other than the man who wrote it.
Captured on camera was Danny Robins… very much in the flesh and all smiles. How uncanny! Or, rather, Uncanny, as Danny’s hit radio/podcast/TV series is known.
When the spooky stage play was made available to amateur theatre groups for a limited period, you could almost bet your house (haunted or otherwise) on the People’s Theatre going for it.
For one thing, it has been a big hit in the West End, on tour and around the world since its premiere in 2021, and has also won and been nominated for a clutch of awards.
It holds the promise of an entertaining night out – if you like being on the edge of your seat - and good business at the box office.
But there was another reason why the Heaton-based amateurs would want to apply for the rights.
Danny, writer, performer, broadcaster and leader of the pack when it comes to sharing and investigating (supposedly) real-life tales of the paranormal, is one of the People’s Theatre’s talented alumni.
Everyone who has heard something go bump in the night, or seen (or imagined) an apparition at the top of the stairs, now calls Danny.
While maintaining his stance as neither believer nor disbeliever, he will then apply himself to the case with his customary enthusiasm, knowing that while an explanation might not emerge, it will make for great if rather edgy entertainment.
Who, in this Halloween month, doesn’t love a bit of a scare?
Once the People’s Theatre had secured the rights, a director was sought – and Anna Dobson made a pitch.
Anna, whose day job is head of drama at Newcastle High School for Girls, is a People’s Theatre stalwart.
Back in the early 1990s, she was a member of its Young People’s Theatre (YPT) youth drama group… alongside Danny.
Comedian Ross Noble was another teenage member of the YPT at that time, which suggests there was never a dull moment.
Putting in her pitch to the People’s committee that matches director to play, Anna made clear that her enduring friendship with Danny shouldn’t sway the decision.
But she did fancy directing this particular play, which has two couples in a seemingly haunted house debating the existence of ghosts, and had ideas about how she would do it.
Also, its small cast would offer a different challenge to that of her upcoming production of Beauty and the Beast with its schoolgirl company of 90-plus.
Anna duly landed the job of directing 2:22 A Ghost Story at the People’s Theatre.
“I contacted Danny and told him I’d got it. He said, ‘Amazing, fantastic! Anything I can do to help…’
“But he’s really busy. He said he wouldn’t be able to see the show in Newcastle because he’s going to New York where a professional production is due to open.
“He did say he might be able to look in on a rehearsal.
“Danny absolutely loved the People’s and he was always one of those people coming up with little schemes.
“Ross Noble was there at the same time and doing bits of comedy, and Danny was giving it a go as well. We’d all go to the Cumberland Arms (in Byker) and they’d try out their stuff there.”
Anna remembers they’d all listen to Alan Robson’s Night Owls programme on Metro Radio and howl with laughter when people phoned in to say they’d seen a ghost.
Robson, a broadcaster ahead of the game in this respect, would investigate some of the cases and it made for great late night listening.
Anna remembers someone rang in to claim the People’s Theatre had a ghost called Frank who had haunted the place since its early days as a cinema, when he had been a projectionist.
“Night Owls came to investigate and I’m pretty sure someone went up into the lighting rig and made noises to make them think the ghost was there.”
She remembers being in a YPT production of Bugsy Malone, playing Tallulah alongside Danny as rival gang boss Dandy Dan and Ross Noble as Fat Sam’s chief hoodlum, Knuckles.
It was presented as a double bill with a production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It and they took it to Gelsenkirchen, Newcastle’s twin city in Germany.
“I remember the weather was bad and we had to sleep in a rifle range,” says Anna.
“We went on a couple of youth theatre holidays. On one trip Ross Noble bought some sort of baby doll that he used as part of his comedy routine at the Cumberland Arms.”
Anna also remembers being in a production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Danny.
“I was Mrs Lovett (who makes the gruesome pies) and Danny, who was quite small at the time, played Johanna’s father and had to wear this massive suit.
“He was two years younger than me but we got to know each other quite well because he was best friends with my then boyfriend.”
Danny grew up in Jesmond and went to Heaton Manor School (now Jesmond Park Academy). Anna was at Sacred Heart in Fenham but attended the People’s from a young age because her mother was – and still is - a member.
“I used to sit in the green room while she rehearsed. I didn’t really want to do youth theatre at first but I joined when I was 15 or 16.”
Since then she has appeared in and directed many shows for the People’s, while also sharing the delights of drama with the countless girls who have passed through her school.
Her own daughters appear to have caught the bug, one studying at Guildford School of Acting and the other in London working towards a degree in film and TV at University of the Arts London.
Meanwhile, preparations are now done at the People’s for 2:22 A Ghost Story with its cast featuring Sam Hinton, Holly Stamp, Kay Edmundson and Sam Burrell.
But there was ample opportunity after the final dress rehearsal for more reminiscing with Danny in the People’s Theatre green room on Friday night.
And while he won’t be there in person, it’s easy to imagine the spirit of Danny Robins still in the building when the show opens to the public on Tuesday, October 20 (running until Saturday).
Tickets from the People’s Theatre box office.