A magical Christmas show specially for the younger audiences in Chichester

Director Dale Rooks asked Michael Morpurgo if he would write a Christmas story for the Minerva Theatre in Chichester.

Transcript

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

00:06Christmas show in the Minerva this year at the Chichester Festival Theatre will be Hey

00:09Christmas Tree, aimed at the slightly younger audiences, but what makes it particularly

00:14special this year is it's the return of Nick Howard-Brown. Now, you were in the youth theatre

00:20in the early 2000s and you're back now. This is effectively your first professional show

00:25then at Chichester. It must be lovely to come back.

00:29Yeah, yeah, my sort of professional return. So special to come back and to work with Dale

00:37again. It's just incredible. She directed me in the first Christmas shows in the Festival

00:44Theatre, the first Christmas shows that the youth theatre ever did. Wizard of Oz and Oliver

00:49played Fagin in that, and so to come back now as a professional, be directed by Dale,

00:55who's just wonderful, a wonderful person, wonderful director. She brings in amazing

01:01creative people as well.

01:03And when you look back from the perspective of now, when you look back at those two shows,

01:07what did they give you then, the Wizard of Oz and Oliver, do you think?

01:11They really gave me a sense of that professional environment. They're so lucky, the youth

01:19theatre, to have that professional backing, the technical crew. And it's not looked down

01:27upon as, oh, it's just a youth theatre show. It's fully supported, it's fully attended.

01:33So for any young people going into acting or stage management or the creative industry,

01:40it just gives you a real sense of what that's like. So yeah, that's what makes it so special,

01:45I think.

01:46Fantastic. And then from Oliver, you went straight to drama school and now you've come

01:50full circle and in the Minerva with a really special sounding show that is saying it's

01:55not just Christmassy, it's poignant too, isn't it?

01:58It is, yeah. It's really magical. It is Christmassy. It is fun. It's joyful. But yeah,

02:07it does have real depth. And yeah, poignancy, particularly, I think the adults will really

02:12pick up on, especially these ideas of what is home, what is friendship, finding a new

02:20home, as well as what's special about Christmas and how do you make Christmas with new friends

02:28and a new family and a new environment? Yeah.

02:31So it's the perfect viewing in the Minerva this Christmas. Lovely to speak to you. Thank

02:35you very much.

02:36You too.

02:36Have a great time. Thank you.

02:37Thank you very much.