00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, group arts editor at Sussex Newspaper. It's really
00:06lovely to speak again to Romina Hitton. Now, you are starting a new theatre company and
00:11it's having its debut in The Nest in Chichester, appropriately given the subject, and then
00:17you're off on tour to schools and to libraries and it's that pesky rat. What's that pesky
00:24rat all about? What's it saying for the show? Well, it follows a lovely story. That Pesky
00:31Rat is a children's book written by Lauren Child and it's a story about a rat that lives
00:39in a dustbin in Grubby Alley and he is bored of having his home turned out and put in the
00:48bin every week. So, he's dreaming of having a home and a place to belong.
00:54And he's talking about some important things as well as being fun, isn't it?
00:59Yes, exactly. And so, we kind of go on a journey with Pesky Rat to sort of find a home and through
01:06that journey we meet lots of his friends along the way. His chinchilla that's a pet that lives
01:12in a lap of luxury, but he really doesn't also like that because he has to go to the pet parlor
01:17once a week and get washed and shampooed. So, he sort of goes through and tries to find
01:22what his ideal home would be and just wants, yeah, an owner that loves him but doesn't,
01:32yeah, he wants to turn owner but not to be owned.
01:35It sounds lovely. And it's so appropriate that you're doing this in Chichester, that the
01:39company, your new company is starting life in Chichester because Chichester, well, you have
01:44long history here, don't you, including many years in the youth theatre. So, it's kind
01:48of got a big circle to start again, isn't it?
01:51It is. It's really wonderful. It always feels like coming home to Chichester. You know, I
01:56was part of the youth theatre, which I loved from the age of 11 to 19. And the youth theatre
02:01really was my theatre training. I, you know, I learnt so much from the incredible people that
02:08I got to work with on all the shows that we do with the youth theatre. And then I got
02:14my first professional job right off the back of a youth theatre show, Running Wild. So,
02:18I didn't actually get to go to drama school, even though I was desperate. So, yeah, I really
02:22did learn so much from the youth theatre. And so, it's lovely to be back working with...
02:27With your own company.
02:28Yeah, yeah. With my own company, with Motion Sickness and with Peter Toos, my co-director.
02:36And yeah, it's great. It's been really, really nice.
02:39Fantastic. Well, it sounds superb. And what a lovely way to start in the nest and then out
02:44onto schools and libraries in September. Really lovely to speak to you again. Very best wishes
02:49to the company. Thank you.
02:50Great. It sounds brilliant. Thank you.
02:51Thank you. Thank you.
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