Chichester ten-year-old joins Oliver!'s West End transfer

He will be in the West End transfer until May. In Chichester he played Swindler in Fagin’s gang. For London he is staying within Fagin's gang but switches to the part of Thomas – the latest chapter in a hugely exciting few months.

“It was so good. It was really, really good. I think the main memory of this summer was probably when I was leaving for my last show and I was in tears. Everybody was in tears but they were happy tears. It was like a moment of joy and everyone was happy to be going... or not! People were worried that they would never see each other again.

“The first time I was on stage I had butterflies but butterflies that helped me to be fine for the rest of the time and all the other shows. Whenever I'm shy I usually have butterflies but they turn into thin air and just evaporate and make me feel like I can be myself, and then when I am myself then I feel happy and excited.”

To start with, whenever they finished an act it was a case of ‘Thank god, that’s over,’ Toba says: “But when we'd done a couple of shows, I just started to think ‘I did that and it was really good and I can easily do it again.’ It was really good fun and when I found out that I was going to be in the West End I was overjoyed. I was jumping around and I just couldn't stop. I was just so happy. I was barely able to sleep that night.”

There were no fresh auditions for the London transfer, just a review of performances and a check that his voice hadn't broken: “But we've had so many rehearsals. There was another team that did the Royal Variety show and we were also on The One Show.

“It's a much smaller theatre and there are lots of different things. They're going to be three bridges when we only used to have one in Chichester. And the revolves are faster than we had in Chichester but I do think it's going to be the same experience and I think we will just go onto it thinking we are going to have a great day.”

Toba, a student at Oakwood School, will be with the show in London until May but already he's thinking much further ahead and reckons that probably the stage is where his career is going to lie.