REVIEW: NIGHTBOY BILLY ON GHOSTS (NO MUMS ALLOWED!) at Old Red Lion Playhouse 17 & 18 October 2026
‘Low-fi thrills’ ★★
As the audience is led upstairs into the pitch black theatre room of the Old Red Lion – London’s most haunted pub – there’s a frisson of anticipation from the young audience settling into their seats as if feeling their way into a ghost train. We’re in the hands of Billy (Roseby Franklin) a 13-year-old ghost hunter who's building quite an online following, with her treks across to the Other Side.
Billy, cute and sweet, gives it large in a baggy sweatshirt. She wants to be cool, adult and ironic, and apes the street kids with a well-behaved, middle class accent. With rudimentary tech—a torch, walkie-talkie, camcorder and ring light—ghosts and spirits are summoned. In the black space, the lights create eerie effects while a backdrop of projections magnifies the live footage.
As a first work from Dogrose Productions (Theatremaker, Roseby Franklin and Writer/Director Hayley Rose) this duo formerly of Inceptive Collective combine horror, comedy and clowning. Building on the low-fi heritage of The Blair Witch Project and drawing on the visual/sensory tropes of “bad paranormal TV shows,” there's heavy breathing, empty space and a waiting for something to happen.
While the anticipatory thrill of waiting is palpable, it’s a long build-up in this hour-long show of conversational ad-libbing which may or may not be leading somewhere. Why does Billy find both solace and status in chasing spirits? Billy is a loner - or lonely: her grandma’s dead, her parents argue and the other kids are dumb, but we’re left in the dark narratively and technically.
Threaded through this hour long ghost hunt is a sub-text of genders past; living between genders in the way a spirit might exist between two worlds. But this significant thread is subtly presented and could be drawn out more. Nightboy certainly has lots of potential to grow and build more meat into this spectral feast before heading to Brighton Fringe for more spooky appearances.
Instagram: roseby.franklin
