Lyric theatre, London
The singer is convincing in the role (first played by Lily Allen) of a mother who hears spooky noises at night in Danny Robins’ well-oiled, blackly comic chiller
Since it opened in 2021, Danny Robins’s supernatural story, with its numerous West End casts, awards and killer twist, has become a well-oiled ghostly machine. It is also becoming a launchpad for singers who fancy treading the boards. First came Lily Allen’s feted tenure; now Cheryl makes her debut in the glare of the West End. As her own X Factor moment, it is respectable enough for a first go, if blunt-edged: big on volume and sudden, thunderous anger.
In fairness, the others are just as shouty. In this haunted-house tale that begins as a comedy of manners, Cheryl convincingly plays rattled new mother Jenny, who is the one who believes the house that she and her husband, Sam (Scott Karim), have bought is haunted. Their friend Lauren (Louise Ford) has come to dinner with her new builder boyfriend Ben (Jake Wood) – who is Mellors to her Lady Chatterley – and the drama’s frights play out over the course of this one night.
At the Lyric theatre, London, until 23 April
