Brighton Theatre Group brings Sister Act to the stage

“We did Sister Act nine years ago in a church in Hove and it was great. We were in All Saints Church which was absolutely beautiful even though there were some issues. It's a church, not a theatre and we had to create a theatre within the church and it was a bit of a nightmare logistically but it was beautiful at the same time and now we're coming back to it.”

Sister Act is at The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove from Tuesday to Saturday, April 18-22 at 7.30pm, Thursday & Saturday Matinees at 2.30pm ; tickets online: www.the old market.com; by phone: 01273 201801 (10am-4pm): “I've done a number of shows a couple of times in my time but I never compare. I always feel like I'm coming to the shows new. I do have memories of it last time but it's a new cast, a new theatre and a new musical director and it feels like we're coming to it completely fresh even though I've done it before, so yes I've got brilliant memories but it feels completely different now. It is one of my very favourite shows. I love the story. I've seen both of films and after we did Shrek we were just thinking what we could do next. You have to think about what's coming up and what's available and it just felt a good time to do Sister Act again.”

Featuring original music from eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken, Sister Act tells the hilarious story of Delores Van Cartier, a wannabe diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a crime and for her own safety has to go undercover in – of all places – a convent. Under the suspicious watch of the Mother Superior, she helps her fellow Sisters find their voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers her own through a hilarious and less than holy journey. “It's a lovely story and I think it's really lovely message. Delores witnesses a murder. She is desperate for fame and fortune but she has to go into hiding and the problem is that she is everything that a nun is not. The beginning is hilarious because the nuns are so sheltered living in the convent but they really learn to warm to her and she warms to them.” And when she takes on the choir things really start to happen: “What is so lovely is that you've got so many different characters among the nuns. You have got the really grumpy nun that is really traditional and doesn't want to change. You've got the nun that sneaks out and goes to the bar opposite and you have got one of the nuns that does not really feel she fits in and wants to go out and experience life instead. D elores mixes in with their stories. At first she absolutely doesn't want to be there, to be getting up at 5am for breakfast and all the work that they have to do but when she takes on the choir as a punishment that's when she really starts to enjoy herself and realise what it's all about.”