Chichester graduate makes UK debut in stage phenomenon Hamilton

SussexWorld

On the road as Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton, Chasity Crisp is enjoying a UK audience for the very first time – 12 years after completing her training at the University of Chichester.

Transcript

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

00:06to speak to Chasity Crisp, who is heading our way in Hamilton, and goodness what a monumental

00:14production that is, it's been on the horizon for so long. But the really intriguing thing

00:18is that you trained in Chichester, and yet this is your first sight of a UK audience

00:2412 years later. How's that worked out?

00:28It finally happened. I mean, I've definitely tried, I've always had a UK agent, and they've

00:36stood by my side this entire time, always here to support, always here to say like,

00:41hey, we know you're in Germany, but there's a couple auditions coming up, and maybe we

00:45can get you in there somehow. But yeah, it's been difficult, but I think everything is

00:52meant to be, and I think I was supposed to be here at this time playing this role for

00:58the tour.

00:59Absolutely, but it's lovely to have that in your background, that those years ago,

01:03you were studying in Chichester for three years, and you had a great time in the city,

01:07didn't you?

01:08Yeah, I had a great time. The base of the University of Chichester is in Chichester,

01:14but there was also a campus in Bognor Regis, so I actually lived in Bognor Regis for the

01:18three years, and would commute back and forth. But yeah, I had such a great time. I still

01:24have so many friendships from that time as well that are, they're actually coming to

01:28Southampton to watch me in Hamilton, because it's the closest to London. So yeah, that'll

01:36be nice.

01:37And then after Chichester, you went back to Germany, where you grew up, and intriguingly,

01:41you were part of the German language version of Hamilton.

01:45Yes.

01:46That must have been quite something.

01:49It really was. First, I was a little bit scared, because I was just like, how can you translate

01:54Hamilton? Like, how is that possible? But they took three years to translate the show,

02:01and it was definitely a show of its own. It's not really a translation, it really is a standalone,

02:09just a different version of Hamilton that is also incredibly beautiful.

02:12Because clearly it can't be word for word, it's got to capture the essence, hasn't it?

02:15No, exactly. Yeah, it's just, because Hamilton is so poetic, it would be, the play on words

02:23and stuff like that would just not work in the language, because with double word entendres, or

02:34rhymes, these kinds of things, it just wouldn't work in German. So they had to come up with a

02:39completely new way to say the same thing.

02:42Absolutely. But now you are in the tricky position of having the German version so

02:47cemented in your head, that it's quite near the surface, isn't it? Even when you are performing

02:53in English?

02:54Yes, because the show never, the bones of the show never changed. So everything is very familiar,

03:02all the costumes, the lights, the stage, everything around me is the exact same. It's

03:09just the words are different. So sometimes if I let myself fall too much into this autopilot kind

03:15of, I don't need to focus, I can just be, I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. We've only been

03:21open for about five, six weeks. So yeah, I still need to focus on the words, otherwise I might

03:30lose myself and switch to a different language.

03:33But it must help that you are playing a character, Angelica,

03:36with whom you do feel great affinity, don't you?

03:40Yeah, I find a lot of ease in playing Angelica and putting a lot of myself in her. I'm a big

03:51sister and any decisions or choices that she makes seemed very natural to me because those

04:01are the exact decisions that I would make too.

04:03Absolutely. Well, Hamilton will be in Southampton very soon, middle of March towards the end of

04:10April. Really lovely to speak to you. I'm very, very much looking forward to seeing it again.

04:14Thank you very much indeed.

04:17Thank you for having me.

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