Frankie Bridge Takes Over The Role Of Lauren At The Apollo Theatre As Sophia Bush Withdraws From 2:22 A GHOST STORY Due To Illness

Runaway Entertainment presents

2:22 - A GHOST STORY

The hit play by Danny Robins

Directed by Matthew Dunster

Runaway Entertainment is delighted to announce that Frankie Bridge will join the cast of 2:22 - A Ghost Story playing the character Lauren in her West End debut after Sophia Bush has unfortunately had to withdraw from the production due to illness. Frankie Bridge will perform from August until the end of the run on 17 September.

The Producers have said ‘Due to illness, Sophia Bush has unfortunately had to withdraw from the production. We are delighted to welcome Frankie Bridge to the 2:22 family. Our talented understudies Gemma Yates and Allie Dart have been covering the role of Lauren on rotation. We are hugely grateful to them for stepping up so brilliantly. They will continue until Frankie begins.’ 

Sophie Bush added “I am truly gutted that my time in 2:22 A Ghost Story has come to an unexpected and early end.

I came down with a virus in June and have not been able to bring my body back to a baseline. After weeks of being intermittently pulled off stage, visiting multiple doctors and spending a night in the Emergency Room, I’ve been advised by expert healthcare specialists that I needed to end my time on stage and be under the care of my doctors at home in the US.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my incredible cast mates and to every member of our extraordinary company, who became fast family. It means the world to me that so many fans traveled to London to see the show. If you’re booked for future nights, please still go and support my brilliant costars. They will blow you away! And I know that Frankie Bridge will be astounding as she makes Lauren her own through the rest of this run. 

There is no greater experience than the stage. I miss it madly. I love it deeply. And I cannot wait for the next one."

On joining the 2:22 cast Frankie said "I’ve loved 2:22 A Ghost Story since I first saw it, so landing the role of Lauren is a total dream come true. Never one to do things by halves, it’s an honour to be making my West End debut on such a clever, suspense-filled production and I couldn’t be more excited to join the cast. Lauren is a joy to play with so many layers and emotions to explore. I can’t wait for you to meet her!"

Frankie Bridge is a versatile entertainer who has seamlessly transitioned from chart-topping pop sensation in The Saturdays to respected broadcaster, author, podcaster and fashion mogul. She joined the ITV1 daytime team as a Loose Women panellist in 2020 and was a finalist in ITV’s ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here’. She also danced her way to the semi-finals on Strictly Come Dancing in 2014. Beyond her television work, Frankie has enjoyed success with her Sunday Times Bestseller memoir and guide: ‘OPEN: Why Asking for Help Can Save Your Life’, plus the follow-up: ‘GROW: Motherhood, Mental Health and Me.’ Frankie began podcasting as an extension of her passion for open conversation and connecting with people. She launched OPEN MIND in 2019 and now co-hosts ‘First Dates: The Podcast’. Her fashion label – FW Bridge – was founded in May 2022 and has gone from strength to strength.

The current run is the fifth West End transfer of Danny Robins’ edge-of-your-seat, supernatural thriller 2:22 - A Ghost Story. It moved to The Apollo in May this year following a hugely successful season at The Lyric theatre - just next door - and two hugely successful seasons at the Criterion. Last year 2:22 A Ghost Story had Olivier Nominations including Best New Play, and won the Best New Play and Best Actor in a play (Jake Wood) categories in the Whatsonstage awards.

The production began its life in the summer of 2021 at the Noel Coward Theatre starring Lily Allen, Julia Chan, Hadley Fraser and Jake Wood. It then transferred to the Gielgud Theatre for 10 weeks from 4 December 2021. The production there, starring Stephanie Beatriz, James Buckley, Elliot Cowan and Giovanna Fletcher, completed its run on 12 February 2022. The show then moved to the Criterion Theatre with the cast featuring Tom Felton, Mandip Gill, Beatriz Romilly, Sam Swainsbury; the second cast at the Criterion Theatre featured  Tamsin Carroll as Lauren, Felix Scott as Sam, Matt Willis as Ben and Laura Whitmore as Jenny, ended its run on 8 January. The show then transferred to the Lyric where Cheryl, Jake Wood, Louise Ford and Scott Karim ended their run on 23 April. The US premiere of 2:22 A Ghost Story at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles opened on 29 October and ended its run on 4 December 2022. The show has also recently opened in Australia.

2.22 - A Ghost Story is written by award-winning writer Danny Robins, creator of the hit BBC podcast The Battersea Poltergeist and it is directed by Matthew Dunster. Intriguing, funny and scary, it takes audiences into one adrenaline-fueled night where secrets will emerge and ghosts may appear….What do you believe? And do you dare to discover the truth?

“There’s something in our house. I hear it every night, at the same time.”

Jenny believes her new home is haunted, but her husband Sam isn’t having any of it. They argue with their first dinner guests, old friend Lauren and her new partner Ben. Can the dead really walk again? Belief and scepticism clash, but something feels strange and frightening, and that something is getting closer, so they are going to stay up… until 2.22am… and then they will know.

2:22 - A Ghost Story features set design by Anna Fleischle, costume design by Cindy Lin, lighting design by Lucy Carter, sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph Sound, casting by Matilda James, CDG, illusions by Chris Fisher, and co-direction by Gabriel Vega Weissmanl.

2:22 - A Ghost Story is produced by Tristan Baker and Charlie Parsons for Runaway Entertainment, Isobel David and Kater Gordon. 

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW.

Press tickets to see Frankie Bridge and the current cast: Ricky Champ, Clifford Samuel and Jaime Winstone are available for the 7.30pm performance on 9 August.

Photos appear courtesy of Seamus Ryan

Listings Information

2:22 - A Ghost Story
By Danny Robins
Directed by Matthew Dunster

Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 7EZ

0330 333 4809

Gala Performance - Wednesday 9 August
Final Performance - Sunday 17 September

Tuesday - Saturday - 7.30pm

Saturday matinee - 2.30pm

Sunday - 2pm and 6pm

Age limit 12+

Marketing Contact

Martin Gray @ EMG

#222AGhostStory 

@222AGhostStory 

BIOGRAPHIES                            

Danny Robins
Danny Robins is an award-winning writer and journalist. He most recently created The Battersea Poltergeist, an 8-part podcast that combined drama and documentary to tell a real-life ghost story, starring Toby Jones and Dafne Keen. It became a global phenomenon – the #1 Drama Podcast across the whole world, including the US, and sparked a bidding war for the TV rights. Danny is now adapting it for TV with Hollywood producers Blumhouse. The series recently won the Gold Award for Best Serialised Podcast at the 2021 New York Festivals Radio Awards.                        

Danny’s first stage play, Rudy’s Rare Records, co-commissioned by Birmingham Rep and Hackney Empire was a critical and commercial success (“A wonderful funny, humane play.” The Daily Telegraph). The follow up was the acclaimed End of the Pier at London’s Park Theatre (“A tour de force” Sunday Times) His debut radio drama The Most Wanted Man in Sweden was nominated for the Writers’ Guild’s Tinniswood Award. He has created and written various shows for TV and radio, including the Bafta-nominated hit series Young Dracula, Rudy’s Rare Records and The Cold Swedish Winter. He also presented the podcast series Haunted. His new 15 part podcast series, Uncanny, for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4, exploring real-life ghost stories, launched on October 20th. “A contemporary Van Helsing... like Bram Stoker’s character, he’s a paranormal hunting polymath...” Sunday Times                    

Matthew Dunster - Director
Matthew Dunster is an Olivier-nominated director, a playwright and actor. Matthew directed Martin McDonagh’s A Very Very Very Dark Matter (The Bridge), and Hangmen (Royal Court, The Wyndhams, West End, and at The Atlantic). Directing credits include: True West (The Vaudeville, West End); Oedipus (Bunkamura Theatre, Tokyo); Liberian Girl (Royal Court); The Seagull, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Open Air Theatre); Love’s Sacrifice (RSC); Imogen, Much Ado About Nothing, Doctor Faustus (Shakespeare’s Globe); Love the Sinner (National Theatre); Mametz (National Theatre Wales); Before the Party (Almeida Theatre); A Sacred Flame (English Touring); You Can See the Hills, 1984, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Macbeth (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Mogadishu (Royal Exchange Manchester and Lyric Hammersmith).

Gabriel Vega Weissman - Co-director
Gabriel Vega Weissman is a New York City based director and playwright. His directing work includes MUST (Off-Broadway, produced by Bruce Willis), Guards at the Taj (Central Square Theatre, Boston - Boston Globe Top 10 Theatre of 2018) and concerts at Kennedy Center and Carnegie for Emmy Award nominated actor and musician Tituss Burgess. He has acted as associate director on seven Broadway productions and is a New York Theatre Workshop affiliated artist. His collection of short plays, Loose Canon, and adaptation Aristophanes’ The Birds have been produced worldwide and are licensed and published by Dramatist Play Services, Inc.             

Anna Fleischle - Set Designer
Anna Fleischle is an award-winning set and costume designer, working internationally in theatre, opera and dance. Her work is infused with the psychological drama and subtext of the play.    

Theatre Includes: Once Upon A One More Time (upcoming, Nederlander, 2021); Hamlet (upcoming, Young Vic, 2021); A Kind of People, The Kid Stays in the Picture (& Complicité), Hangmen (& West End/Broadway, 2016 Olivier Award Winner for Best Set Design) and Liberian Girl (Royal Court); Death of A Salesman (Young Vic/West End); Hedda Tesman (Chichester Festival); Two Ladies, A German Life, A Very Very Very Dark Matter (Bridge); Home, I’m Darling (2019 Olivier Award Nomiee for Best Set Design and Best Costume Design.Theatr Clwyd/National/West End.); The Writer, Before the Party (Almeida); The Way of the World (Donmar); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Crucible; Sheffield; West End; UK tour; Korea); MuchAdo About Nothing, Troilus and Cressida (Globe); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Old Vic); Beware of Pity (Schaubühne, Berlin/Complicité); Tiger Bay (Wales Millennium Centre/Cape Town Opera); Terror (Lyric, Hammersmith); Don Juan in Soho (West End); Rent: 20th Anniversary Production (St James/Theatr Clwyd/UK tour); The Exorcist (Birmingham Rep/West End/UK tour); The Two Noble Kinsmen, Cymbeline, Love’s Sacrifice (RSC); Henry V (Regent’s Park Open Air); Before I Leave (National Theatre Wales); The End of Longing (West End); John (National/DV8/International Tour); West Side Story, Blindsided, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Rat’s Tales (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Can We Talk About This (National/DV8/International tour/Sydney Opera House); Love The Sinner (National); As You Like It (Curve, Leicester); You Can See The Hills, Love and Money (2007 Olivier Award Nominee For Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. Royal Exchange, Manchester/Young Vic).                        

Opera includes: Orfeo (upcoming, Vienna Staatsoper, 2022); Weimar Nightfall: Seven Deadly Sins (LA Philharmonic); Don Giovanni, Iphigenie en Tauride, Paul Bunyan, King Priam (English Touring Opera);Candide (Opéra National de Lorraine); Zaide (Sadler’s Wells/Classical Opera Company/UK tour).

Dance includes: Message In A Bottle (Sadler’s Wells); Second Coming (Scottish Dance Theatre). John; Can We Talk About This (National/DV8/International tour/Sydney Opera House). 

Screen includes: Monologue Hub / Soliloquy (Underexposed Arts).

Installations include: The Unforgotten (Young Vic).                        

Fellowships include: Founding Member of Scene/Change (2020 – present); Associate Artist, Young Vic (2020 – present); Board Member, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (2019 - present); Ambassador for PiPA (2019 – present).     

Awards include: Olivier Award for Best Set Design (2016), Critics’ Circle Best Designer Award (2015) and Evening Standard Award for Best Design (2015) (Hangmen); Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera (2014) (King Priam / Paul Bunyan).             

Cindy Lin - Costume Designer
Cindy Lin a set and costume designer for live performance with a background in filmmaking. Cindy ultimately transitioned into live performance when she trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (MA Theatre Design). Her film background combined with a passion for live performance gives her a unique approach to visual storytelling that inspires atmospheric design. Theatre credits include: Screwdriver (Lyric Hammersmith), Actually (Trafalgar Studios), Dismantle This Room (Royal Court Theatre and Bush Theatre), Breathe (Bunker Theatre), Hurricane Protest Songs (Graeae), Electra (RWCMD).                        

Opera credits include: Madam Butterfly (OperaUpClose), Faust Alberta, Orpheus and Eurydice (Opera in the City Festival). Dance credits include: Heist (Zoielogic). In addition, Cindy is part of the Old Vic 12 2020-2021 cohort, a Royal Opera House bursary recipient in 2017, and a Linbury Prize finalist in 2015.                        

Lucy Carter - Lighting Designer
Lucy Carter is a multi-award winning, critically acclaimed Lighting Designer. She was awarded the 2018 Critics Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Contribution to Dance. She is a two-time winner of the prestigious Knight of Illumination Award for Dance for Chroma (2008) and for Woolf Works (2015); winner of the 2013 TMA Achievement award in Opera for Lohengrin; and the 2004 Olivier Dance Award for 2 Human. Theatre credits include: Escaped Alone, Coriolanus (Crucible Theatre); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (West End & UK Tour); On the Town (Hyogo Performing Arts, Japan); Home, I’m Darling (National Theatre and West End); The Almighty Sometimes (The Royal Exchange); Oil (Almeida); The End of Longing (West End); Medea, Emil and the Detectives, Blurred Lines and Husband and Sons (National Theatre).Opera credits include: Orphée (ENO); Katya Kabanova (Royal Opera House - Best New Opera Production, Olivier Awards 2019); Hansel and Gretel (Royal Opera House); Werther (Bergen National Opera); Elektra (Goteborg Opera); Lohengrin (Greek National Opera, Polish National Opera, Welsh National Opera); La Finta Giardiniera (Glyndebourne, Teatro alla Scala); Peter Grimes (Aldeburgh on the Beach); Salomé, The Dream of Gerontius (ENO at The Royal Festival Hall). Dance credits include: McGregor and Mugler, Woolf Works, Obsidian Tear, Afterite, Yugen, Multiverse, Chroma and Autobiography with long-term collaborator Wayne McGregor; Threshold (Le Patin Libre); The Most Incredible Thing (Sadlers Wells & Charlotte Ballet). Other credits include: lighting design for Gareth Pugh’s Women’s Collection in London Fashion Week 2017 and 2019, and Paloma Faith’s performance at the Brit Awards 2015.                        

Ian Dickinson for Autograph - Sound Designer
Recent credits: Fracked (Chichester) Before I Leave (Cardiff) Elegy, Roots (Donmar), Uncle Vanya (Almeida), Husbands And Sons (National), Hangmen (Royal Court/Wyndhams/Broadway) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Olivier Award and Drama Desk Award - Apollo / National Theatre/Broadway); Jerusalem (Royal Court, West End and Broadway, Olivier Award Best Sound Design) This House, Port (National Theatre); The River (Royal Court and Broadway). The Nether (Royal Court/West End) Loves Sacrifice (RSC), Rules For Living and The Red Lion (National) The Days the Nights the Wounds and The Night (Linbury Studio); A Taste of Honey, Emil and the Detectives (National Theatre); The Weir (Wyndhams); (Donmar / Radio 3); The Machine (Manchester International Festival); Company (West End and Broadway), Small Island (National Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Harold Pinter theatre), This House (West End), Angels in America (National Theatre), Europe (Donmar), The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (Bridge Theatre).                        

For Regent’s Park: All My Sons, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.            

Other theatre includes: (Mogadishu, 1984, Macbeth Fatherland, (Royal Exchange, Manchester; Cause Célèbre (Old Vic); After the Dance, Harper Regan, The Hothouse, Pillars of the Community (National Theatre); John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey Theatre, Dublin / Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York); Bingo (Young Vic); Before the Party, Children’s Children (Almeida); South Downs, The Browning Version (Chichester).            

For more information visit www.autograph.co.uk                     

Matilda James CDG - Casting Director
Matilda James CDG is a freelance casting director and creative producer from Cornwall, working on projects for theatre and screen. She was Head of Casting for Shakespeare's Globe from 2012 to 2017, where she cast over 50 shows for the Globe and Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, including Hamlet Globe to Globe which toured to every country in the world between 2014-2016 and was granted UNESCO patronage.    

Recent projects include with the Barbican, York Theatre Royal and Kyiv City Ballet, #Merky Films, and Citizens of the World, the UK's leading choir for people seeking sanctuary and asylum.        

Other theatre includes: Family Tree by Mojisola Adebayo (ATC / Belgrade Theatre Coventry / Brixton House); Gin Craze! by April de Angelis (Northampton Royal & Derngate / ETT); A Woman of No Importance and Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde (both for Classic Spring / NIMAX); Farinelli and the King (Shakespeare's Globe / Sonia Friedman Productions / Belasco Theatre NYC).                        

Film includes: BENJAMIN, POND LIFE, PORTRAITS OF DANGEROUS WOMEN and shorts GANEF, DOG DAYS and FOR HEIDI.                        

Tristan Baker & Charlie Parsons for Runaway Entertainment – Producer
Founded in 2011 by Tristan Baker and Charlie Parsons, Runaway Entertainment is an independent theatre and film production company. Currently running in the West End, the award-winning 2:22 – A Ghost Story (Noël Coward, Gielgud, Criterion, Lyric and LA) and Disney’s Newsies. Runaway commissioned and produced the Tony and Olivier award-winning and critically acclaimed Conor McPherson/Bob Dylan musical Girl From The North Country, which is currently on tour in the UK following Broadway, the Old Vic, the Noël Coward, the Gielgud, Toronto’s Royal Alexandra and Australia.    

Other productions include: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Olivier Award-winning In the Heights, The Windsors: Endgame (Prince of Wales), the Olivier Award-winning production of The Railway Children at King’s Cross Theatre; Guys and Dolls in the West End and on tour; Footloose (West End, South Africa and UK tours); Flashdance (UK and international tour) and The Christmasaurus Live (Hammersmith Apollo).               

Isobel David - Producer
Isobel David is a theatre producer who has been working across the commercial and subsidised sectors for the past 10 years. She is currently Producer at Runaway Entertainment, and particularly passionate about developing new and ambitious work for the stage. Recent shows include: 2:22 – A Ghost Story by Danny Robins (Noel Coward Theatre, Gielgud Theatre), The Windsors: Endgame, the stage adaptation of the hit TV show (Prince of Wales Theatre) and Girl From the North Country, the Conor McPherson / Bob Dylan musical (Broadway, previously the West End, The Public Theatre NYC, The Old Vic, and The Alexandra Theatre, Toronto). Isobel is also the co-founder of the award winning comedy production company Fight in the Dog, developing, supporting and producing exciting, ambitious and, crucially, funny live work, working closely with organisations such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Soho Theatre, VAULT Festival, New Diorama Theatre and The Pleasance and, as well touring venues across the country.

Kater Gordon - Producer
Having worked in many aspects of theatre, television, and film, Kater now champions artists and storytellers as a producer. She began her career in costumes at Williamstown Theatre Festival and later won an Emmy and two WGA awards for her writing on AMC’s hit television show Mad Men. Current projects include the Olivier Award Nominated 2:22 — A Ghost Story (Noël Coward Theatre, Gielgud Theatre, Criterion Theatre, Ahmanson Theatre, Lyric Theatre), A Doll’s House (Hudson Theatre, New York),  Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons (Harold Pinter Theatre), and Disney’s Newsies (Troubadour Wembley). Other notable credits include Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder (Roundabout), The Windsors: Endgame (Prince of Wales Theatre), Mum (SOHO Theatre), Leopards (Rose Theatre Kingston), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Rose Theatre Kingston) and Sally Cookson’s Peter Pan (The National at Troubadour White City) .