How theatre has “changed my life”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ - Worthing show

Coming from Crawley and travelling so far, she imagined it would be a happy one-off. But in the event, Amy loved it so much that she can’t now imagine not being with the company. She's back for more with their production of Kipps: The New Half A Sixpence Musical which runs from Thursday, March 21-Saturday, March 23 at Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre (tickets from Worthing Theatres website or 01903 206206).

“I have been with the company for about nine months now. I live up in Crawley but I just love the company so much. They're just such nice people and put on such a good show. I think they're just genuinely the nicest people. I've worked with quite a few different companies and I've loved them all but down in Worthing they are just so friendly and welcoming and they really do a great job supporting everyone and giving everyone the chance to show their talents and really be part of it. I just really, really enjoy the atmosphere.”

And Kipps: The New Half A Sixpence Musical is a great show to come back to: “It's the new version with all the classic songs and a couple of new ones and it just really focuses on Kipps the character and his story and how he becomes torn between two women, the woman that can help him with his new-found money or does he choose the girl from his childhood? I am playing the posh one.”

And of course it would probably be giving away far too much to say which of the two girls he ends up with, but certainly Amy counts herself as “Team Helen.”

“She is stuck in the upper classes but she is so much nicer than a lot of the other upper-class characters and I think that's what makes her so lovable. Kipps brings out in her a side that you wouldn't necessarily see. You see her authenticity and you see her honesty. She helps him with his new life of coming into money. For him beforehand it's the idea of being around this beautiful lady that he does not get the chance to speak to but just sees but then he does come into the money and there's a whole theme of her believing in him and getting him to believe in himself.”

It's a very appealing prospect for Amy: “I have been doing musicals since I was at school. I did music and English lit at university with a focus on performance and I went away for a couple of years and then came back and started doing amdram up in Crawley. And it has been such a wonderful experience. My entire support network is around theatre friends. I think theatre just brings everyone together. It brings opportunities to get to know new people and to get to meet people outside your usual circles. I just think that’s what's very special about it and that's why I would always encourage people to support their local theatre or even to try theatre for themselves. The people that I've met through theatre have changed my life.”