Worthing date for The Great British Bake Off Musical
The Great British Bake Off Musical at The Pavilion Theatre in Worthing from May 14-17 will be the University of Chichester swansong for this year’s triple-threat third-years as they prepare to head out into the big wide world.
Holly French and Sofia Tufo are double cast as the character Gemma, a carer from Blackpool; and Stanley Kaleniuk is Ben, a police officer from Bristol who is coping with single parenthood.
Sofia, who is from Epsom, explains: “It is eight contestants starting off, and it's completely based on the TV show and they go through four weeks of Bake Off doing all the technicals and the showstoppers. It is all very much based heavily around the characters. We get to know them and we see the relationships build and we see the friendships build.”
And that's a key part of the attraction of the show, says Stanley, who comes from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire: “I'm playing Ben and he's got a nine-year-old daughter and it's his daughter that really wants him to be on the show and pushes him with his application. She really believes that he can win it and actually he does have a certain level of confidence which grows.
“It's a great show and there is great comedy. It's all about the people and all about the relationships between them. You see this mix of different people coming together under pressure, and being together in something really does bring them together.”
As Holly, who comes from Newport in South Wales, says, part of the pressure for the performance is the fact that they are being examined on what they do: “This is the final thing that we do at university so it is really good to end with a show all together. I think it depends on the person but from my experience I think I will just go out there and perform. You step on stage and you are doing what you love. I don't think there will be added pressure from the fact that we are being examined.”
Sofia has loved her time in Chichester: “It has been so much better than I could have expected it to be. We're doing what we love all the time which is fantastic but we're also meeting people from all over the place who have the same interests. It's been so nice to have that collective interest together. And I do think that we will be ready when we finish. I think it has all set us up very well. We have had lots of people from the outside coming in and I think we are as ready as we're going to be.”
Stanley too has thoroughly enjoyed his time in Chichester: “It was the audition process here that really sold me on the course. Coming here and auditioning felt different to auditioning in other places. Everyone was really friendly and you really felt that they wanted to get to know you during the day and that they wanted you to do well. It was the difference between walking into a cold room and walking into a room which really welcomed you which is what we've got here.”
Holly is excited about what comes next: “As long as I can do something in theatre, I will be happy. I also did the stage management pathway here and I'm really interested in the backstage stuff too. I work a lot with local theatre back home. I'm just happy doing this. I can't sit still!
“For me when I was younger I went to a school where academic stuff was really important. That's not to say I wasn't good academically but everyone was being encouraged to become doctors or lawyers and for me that just wasn't fulfilling. It was when I watched my first West End show that I realised what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. It was The Lion King. It was a bit of Disney magic and it was the first time I knew where I felt at home.”
The evening shows will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There will be matinees performances at 2.30pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets from Worthing Theatres.