Horsham sixth-former steps into Cinderella's shoes this Christmas

Written by Philip Wilson, with music by Jason Carr and directed by Jon Pashley, the show runs from December 17-31.

As Annalise says, there is just so much to discover in Cinderella and in the piece as a whole: “When I first read the script in R&D and then auditioned for the role, Cinderella really stuck with me because in this version she is very delved into compared to the Disney version. You really see her background and you really see why she is the way she is and who she is. You don't see that with the Disneyfied cleaning character but in this you see all the details about why she acts the way she does and why she runs away from the balls (there are three of them in this version).

“The thing with Cinderella is that she has been through so much in her childhood with losing her mother and with her terrible stepfamily coming in. We've been really looking into the grief side of it all and for me that's the most interesting thing about the character. You can see that also in the scenes with the Prince because he has lost his mother too. We really looked into that. I think the Prince experienced grief a lot earlier than Cinderella did but they are both on the same pathway. They meet and they say that it is a sad thing to have in common and they take that with them into their relationship. They understand each other. There are clashes between them as well, due to the grief and we're looking at why she runs away. It changes for each of the three balls. The king holds three nights of revelry and fun for his son and it's quite an adventure to get to all three balls but she runs away from each of them and I think sometimes it's about the spotlight being on her. She is quite a closed person. Her mother was so open and welcoming but when Cinderella has the spotlight on her she finds it very difficult.”

The fact is that Cinderella and the Prince are young adults: “They're going out into the world. The Prince is being brought up like a Prince and he has not experienced the world in the way that Cinderella has, and sometimes they just don't understand where each other comes from and I think that's what makes it so interesting. We've had so many different chats about all of the characters, people like the stepmother.

“I joined the youth theatre when I was in year six and I didn't do my first show until I was in year eight and that was the first Pinocchio. I played the cricket.”

It was the pandemic year when the production was forced off the stage long before the intended end of its run: “It was a crazy time but I actually did both Pinocchios (the second time when the show came back the following year) and I've also done The Wind In The Willows and Jungle Book.”

For Annalise, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without the Youth Theatre: “I was literally only just saying that being here feels like Christmas to me. And I know it's going to feel very, very different when I leave but this is what Christmas is and I think it stretches Christmas out for us. I know we only have one day off but really it feels like the whole two weeks (of the run) are Christmas because it just feels so special. We spend so much time together and we just feel so close to each other.”