In November 2019, at the age of 17, I was heavily involved in a short run of Lionel Bart’s ‘Blitz!’ with YOG (Youth Operetta Group) at the Albany Theatre.

‘Blitz!’ is a vibrant and heartwarming classical musical theatre piece set against the backdrop of World War II London. Whilst it captures the difficulty of living through and navigating the chaos of air raids and presence of war, the story very much focuses on the resilience and camaraderie of the community we get to meet. It chronicles the lives of a whole host of ordinary citizens, a number of which I had the opportunity to play.

My track included the school teacher who has a few featured scenes in which I got to work with a large number of child cast members, a young mother which meant more focused work with two adorable little girls and a lot of ensemble work. Not only did I help out with props/wardrobe by hand-making the 50+ gas mask boxes featured in the production, I was also trusted with various stage managing tasks such as cueing entrances and clearing areas during set changes to keep everyone safe.

On top of that, Lionel Bart’s lively soundtrack lent itself to some fantastic dance sequences that I was very involved in. Honestly, they gave me a fun challenge in rehearsal as I hadn’t had any dance training, however, with all the hard work I put in, when it came to the performances I was able to seamlessly mesh with the dancers. In addition to participating in all the larger group dances, I was even chosen to participate in some special dance features that not everyone had the opportunity to perform in!

This production was both a technical challenge and with the show being such an interesting balance of humour and hopefulness, was a great exploration into the human capacity for joy even in the darkest moments. It gave me a chance to take part in energetic dance numbers, bring to life a range of characters and I really enjoyed all that I was trusted with both on stage and behind the scenes!