00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Fantastic
00:06to speak to Ben Watson again. We last spoke for Panto at Christmas at White Rock in Hastings,
00:12but Ben, you're back. Very different guys, very different challenge ahead. You are masterminding
00:17the big summer youth project, which this year is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Stats
00:24are quite, well, daunting, aren't they? 100 in the cast, 10 days to put it all together.
00:29How are you going to cope with this? Except you've done it before.
00:35So hopefully, according to form, we're all on track. And what could possibly go wrong?
00:42Firstly, I just wanted to say it's lovely to see you again, Phil. And you'll be glad
00:47to know that Cinderella has found her prince. So I'm now redundant from Hard Up Hall. So
00:57I'm now, I've now left, left Pantoland. And I'm now, so I'm now stepping into, yes, into
01:07essentially a world, a world of pure imagination. Absolutely. There you go. There you go. I'll
01:16see how many, how many songs I can crowbar into the conversation. But yes, no, but you've
01:20done this big project. This will be your sixth time of doing the summer youth project, but
01:24it still sounds an enormous prospect. It is. I'm not going to lie. It is. Each year,
01:34it feels like we're trying to raise the bar a little bit each year. And I think we set
01:41the bar quite high when we first started in 2017 with Oliver. And each year, we try and
01:49add a little bit more. We obviously want it to be professional West End quality. We treat
01:58the participants as young professionals. But this year especially, I mean, we did Wizard
02:05of Oz last year, which we thought was quite an undertaking, let's say. I mean, let's do a full
02:13MGM musical with no edits for licensing. So we're talking a two hour plus musical in 10 days.
02:25This year, we're doing the same, but with a more modern musical that involves intricate harmonies,
02:33more complex dance routines as musical theatre has evolved. Yeah. Obviously, things have become
02:44more intense, more intricate. So we're kind of going with the times with Charlie and the Chocolate
02:50Factory. But yeah, it's another bar raised. Absolutely. But the crucial thing is it's such
02:57a fabulous story as indeed is the Wizard of Oz, but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I mean,
03:01you're on board instantly, aren't you as an audience? You want to be part of that world.
03:06It's Roald Dahl. It's a children's book classic. And the majority of people who,
03:18I was going to say who doesn't like chocolate, but I know there's a few people I know who don't
03:22like chocolate, but the majority, yeah. But it's, you know, it's, yeah, it's got everything in,
03:28it's got all the, it's got something for all the family actually, because
03:35the West End show and the touring show was designed for families. So a little bit like
03:41with Panto, there is something in there for the adults and there is something in there
03:46for the children as well. So, but it is very family friendly for everyone to come and see.
03:54Absolutely. But from the perspective of your young actors, what do they walk away with at
03:58the end? What's their experience been, do you think, if all goes well? Which it will.
04:04What we hope is that we've instilled more confidence with them both professionally
04:13and also personally. So that, and also that they've learned theatre skills. I mean,
04:21one of the primary things is that they've learned more about stagecraft, you know, singing,
04:29the timetable, the schedule of putting on a show. And, but I think most importantly of all
04:36is the friendships that they make. It's really lovely to see from day one, their confidence,
04:45but also the relationships and the bonds that they form.
04:51And as we were saying, they will remember this forever, won't they?
04:55That's what we hope. Yeah, that's what we hope.
04:59And do you crawl off to lie down in your darkened room at the end of it?
05:04I do. I literally, yeah. The rest of August is just, it's a, yeah, I go to my cryogenic
05:15freezing chamber, which usually after panto, I'm cryogenically frozen for 11 months of the year.
05:24A bit like Han Solo in Empire Strike Back, you know, it's a bit like that. But what happens is
05:29I get defrosted in about, literally a few weeks ago, I've been defrosted. And then I can be sort
05:37of re-frozen for Peter Pan. Is that safe to keep defrosting,
05:43did you think? Actually, that's a really good question.
05:46Something I haven't, I'll have to check with the health and safety side with the theatre and just
05:53find out what the guidelines are for being cryogenically frozen.
05:58But you will be back again this Christmas then?
06:02I will be, yeah, for Peter Pan, which is the, a proper pirate panto for Hastings. I mean,
06:10for me, it's the, it is the panto for Hastings really, isn't it?
06:15Absolutely fantastic. Well, let's make sure we speak again then. Lovely to speak to you again
06:20and all good wishes for this big adventure you're going on.
06:25Thanks Phil.
06:26Thank you.
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