Delighted to be the first show back at Windmill Entertainment Centre

SussexWorld

LPOS Musical Productions are delighted to be the first show back at Littlehampton’s Windmill Entertainment Centre following the fire last August.

Transcript

00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers, and I'm

00:06 lovely to speak to David Upcroft. And it's an exciting time, isn't it, for Elphos Musical

00:10 Productions in Middlehampton, because you are the first production back in the Windmill

00:15 Entertainment Centre after the fire last August. It must be lovely to be the first show back.

00:21 You've waited a time for this.

00:23 Yeah, it's been a long time. So Elphos ourselves, we've waited a year. So our last show was

00:31 April 2023, Me and My Girl. We were a year on from our last show. Understandably, you

00:39 know, we couldn't get in in the interim for our October show. So yeah, we're really excited.

00:45 It sounds like a full understanding for why the wait was so long, but it must be frustrating

00:50 for a company not to perform. You had to postpone a show last autumn, which you'll do again

00:55 this autumn, or do for the first time rather this autumn. So it's going to be great to

01:00 be back.

01:01 It will be great. Yeah, exactly. We're a registered charity. We do a lot of, you know, we worked

01:06 really hard about breaking down barriers and bringing theatre as an inclusive option for

01:10 people who maybe don't have opportunities to go elsewhere, to kind of introduce them

01:15 to the benefits of theatre for their physical health, mental health. That's a lot of what

01:18 we do. So it's been difficult for us. You know, the loss of income has been really hard,

01:24 but you know, we've managed to kind of just about get through. And we're really excited.

01:28 We really are.

01:29 So why is the Pyjama Game the right show to come back with?

01:35 So I think there's a real place for it in current times. It's funny, which is always

01:41 helpful. You know, there's lightheartedness, there's beautiful music in it, there's amazing

01:46 songs throughout and songs that you'll know and you'll recognise, but just not necessarily

01:50 know that this is where they come from. So some great songs in there, some great dance,

01:54 great music. But right at the heart of it, right at the heart of everything is this kind

02:00 of tension and battle between the people and the management and what it means to potentially

02:04 go on strike, which, you know, we see very prominently in society around us right now,

02:10 the power that people actually can hold and what that means and the tension behind that

02:15 and why you get driven to that point. So yeah, for us, I think actually there's a little

02:21 bit of a kind of play on our current state as a society.

02:25 It's got a real resonance, doesn't it, really?

02:27 Yeah, I think so. I do think so. And I think that was a real part of our choice towards

02:33 bringing the show back around. You know, it's not one of the biggest, not one of the ones

02:38 that people will necessarily know very, very well.

02:40 But with some fabulous game numbers.

02:43 Yeah, absolutely. You know, some great big numbers, Steam Heat, Once a Year Day, Seven

02:48 and a Half Cents. There's some great songs in there that people will know, they just

02:52 won't know that this is where it comes from.

02:53 Brilliant. Well, congratulations on your return. Good to have you back and lovely to speak

02:57 to you. Hope it goes brilliantly.

02:58 Yeah.

02:59 Thank you.

03:00 Thanks so much, Phil.

03:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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