00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers.
00:05Really lovely now to speak to Jordan Oliver, who is in Topham,
00:09which is sensational, fabulous musical.
00:12And what was so intriguing is that this is actually your first time in Chichester,
00:16first time setting foot in the city, let alone on the stage.
00:19What are those first impressions?
00:21Our first impressions are incredible.
00:24So I have a lot of stories being in the musical theatre community.
00:28Chichester is such an institution in itself.
00:31And so many of my friends have been in shows here.
00:34Oliver, my brother-in-law, was in half a sixpence nearly ten years ago.
00:39So those stories you hear for years and years.
00:42And you never know until you get there if they live up to the expectation.
00:46But first impressions were incredible.
00:48The community here and the way the theatre itself is integrated in the building
00:53and within the city, within the town of Chichester is just stunning.
00:57And you mentioned the way it's integrated.
00:59That must make the stage so much less daunting.
01:01It must make it exciting and friendly rather than daunting to step onto it.
01:05Absolutely, yeah.
01:06And there have been moments where usually on a proscenium march you don't see the audience.
01:10There is that fourth wall and that gap.
01:13But being a thrust stage, like the unique space here at Chichester, it can feel a little bit daunting when you're doing top hat at the end of act one and you go to stand on the edge.
01:24And I saw people last night.
01:25They moved their feet in to their seats because they've only got like six feet from between them and my cane.
01:36So it can feel a bit daunting, assumedly for both the audience in that moment and for us.
01:40But no, the fact that all of this is so well put together and integrated, along with the minerva over the road and the new nest.
01:49Absolutely.
01:50And ex-people of mine's just done a show there.
01:53It feels like a true community and it's a lovely experience.
01:59And as for top hat itself, well, fantastic show, isn't it?
02:04Yes.
02:05Yeah, it's a beautiful show.
02:06Why is it working so well?
02:07And it works straight away, doesn't it?
02:09Yes, absolutely.
02:10As you say, it works straight away from the first number.
02:14We have the overture and all those iconic songs just to settle the audience in, into the era that we're going to be doing.
02:20And then we start with putting on the Ritz and it doesn't get more iconic musical theatre, I don't think, than that.
02:27It's four minutes of tap dancing and and singing that iconic song.
02:32So you're straight in to the pure escapism that is top hat.
02:37Escapism is key, isn't it?
02:38You've said that word a couple of times.
02:40Escapism to a very, very glamorous era.
02:42Absolutely.
02:43Yeah.
02:44And and how beautiful it's done in Chichester as well.
02:48And when you're on it, you never really, truly get to appreciate the the magnitude of it and how beautiful it is.
02:55But I was lucky enough to watch out front and do a show watch last week.
03:00And I got a little bit emotional, if I'm honest.
03:03It is.
03:04It is.
03:05Yeah, it is stunning.
03:07Just Peter's design and Yvonne's costumes just just bring it all bring it all to life in such a beautiful way.
03:13And so it makes it makes the dance that we do and all of the blocking that we're doing mean so much more in that context.
03:22Fantastic. Well, congratulations on a brilliant show.
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