Rapunzel will be Eastbourne's perfect Easter holiday family treat

SussexWorld

Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne is promising the perfect Easter holiday family treat with Rapunzel: A Tangled Hairy-tale running from Wednesday to Saturday, April 3-7.

Transcript

00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Really lovely

00:06 to speak again to Lewis Roberts. Now Lewis, you were in Eastbourne for the pantomime,

00:11 Devonshire Park, at Christmas. You're back again for an Easter pantomime. Now, clearly

00:17 you had a great time in Eastbourne over Christmas and that's why you are back.

00:22 Absolutely, absolutely. So we were doing Beauty and the Beast over Christmas at the Devonshire

00:27 Park. I've done this my third panto. I've got to say it was the most fun I've had doing

00:32 one of these jobs. Just the most wonderful company and the most fantastic theatre.

00:36 Is there something special about pantomime in Eastbourne in particular than just...

00:41 I think there is. I think there is. I'm from Brighton myself and so being by the coast

00:45 is a big part of it. But just for my money, I don't think you can beat that theatre. I

00:49 think it's my favourite theatre I've ever performed in.

00:52 What's it got?

00:54 It's got the grand feel of being out at the theatre whilst also being quite close, quite

01:00 intimate still with the audience. You don't feel like you're a million miles away. You

01:05 just can't beat that real sort of seaside feel.

01:08 And all of that helped create a fabulous company then.

01:12 Yeah, absolutely. So the sum of all of it, I just think is absolutely fantastic.

01:18 Yeah. And now back for an Easter pantomime. How different is an Easter pantomime to a

01:23 Christmas pantomime?

01:25 Well you can expect the same. So it's the same. This is the same creative team that

01:28 have done the last 23 pantomimes at the Devonshire Park Theatre. So they know exactly what they're

01:35 doing when it comes to delivering this style of show. But this does have a fresh feel to

01:40 it. You know, this isn't a Christmas show. So you can expect the same level of detail,

01:45 the same comedy, but with a story that we won't have heard at Christmas yet.

01:50 It's Rapunzel.

01:51 It's Rapunzel.

01:52 It's a tangled fairy tale is how we're selling it.

01:54 And you're playing a bit of a rogue then, are you?

01:57 I am indeed. Finn Strider, a rogue, a thief to start with. And we'll have to see how his

02:05 journey plays out at the Devonshire Park.

02:07 He's presumably not a total villain though, is he?

02:10 No, I don't think so. I think that rarely there are true villains on stage. And I think

02:17 that Finn Strider himself, you know, at this theatre, in this show, was going to have a

02:22 bit of a journey and hopefully learn some lessons along the way.

02:24 And as you were saying, an Easter pantomime, there is tradition, isn't there?

02:30 There is.

02:31 We used to have pantomimes running for months, didn't we?

02:33 Pantomimes ran, you know, all the way through Christmas and the New Year, all the way up

02:37 to Easter. And so this is something that, although might feel different for audiences, this is

02:42 something that is well rooted in theatre tradition and perfectly timed as well. This is over

02:48 the Easter half term. So this is the third of April to the seventh, that Wednesday to

02:52 the Sunday. So plenty of chance for everyone to come and see it. And, you know, we did

02:56 the same slot of the shows last year. We did The Little Mermaid at the Devonshire Park.

03:03 And it's the same company, it's the same cast, the same crew. So we're picking right back

03:07 from where we left off and we're going to go past even what we had last year. And so

03:12 I'm really excited to bring this back to the Devonshire Park.

03:16 Fantastic. Well, it sounds a lovely prospect. Lewis, really lovely to speak to you again.

03:20 It's Wrapunzel, Devonshire Park, April the 3rd to the 7th. Have a great time. Thank you.

03:26 Thank you very much.

03:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended