The former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl is to follow in the footsteps of pop star Lily Allen and make her West End acting debut in the thriller 2:22 – A Ghost Story.
The star, formerly known as Cheryl Tweedy, will play Jenny, who believes her new home is haunted, in the hit play by Danny Robins. “I am really excited to be taking part in what is such a new challenge,” said Cheryl who described herself as “a big fan of theatre”. The star said that Robins’ style of writing “has an odd sense of familiarity to me, being a fellow Geordie” and Robins added: “We grew up very close to each other in Newcastle so I can’t wait to hear Jenny with a Geordie accent.”
Cheryl joins the fifth cast of the play, which will move into the Lyric theatre in London in January. It is the biggest venue to date for the peripatetic show which is currently at the Criterion theatre and opened in the summer of 2021 at the Noël Coward theatre, with Lily Allen in the original cast. Allen received acclaim for her performance, which earned her an Olivier award nomination. In a four-star review, the Guardian’s Kate Wyver wrote: “You wouldn’t know this is Allen’s first time acting in the West End.”
Allen and Cheryl shared a public feud for several years in the 00s. In her 2018 memoir Allen apologised to her and Cheryl subsequently told the Guardian “we’re both women, now” and said that she admired Allen for being outspoken in the industry.
Allen left the 2:22 – A Ghost Story cast when it transferred from the Noël Coward theatre to the Gielgud, where it ran for 12 weeks before moving to the Criterion. Its current cast includes Busted singer Matt Willis and TV presenter Laura Whitmore in her West End debut.
“We’ve had a great tradition of Jennys making their West End acting debuts and blowing audiences away, and I know that Cheryl is going to be absolutely sensational and spine-tingling,” said Robins, who described the Lyric as a “brilliantly atmospheric” home for his chilling play.
Joining Cheryl in the play are Hugo Chegwin (from the TV series People Just Do Nothing), Louise Ford and Scott Karim. The play, directed by Matthew Dunster, finishes its Criterion run on 8 January and opens at the Lyric on 21 January.
