Life as a trainee producer at Chichester Festival Theatre

He went on to join Chichester Festival Youth Theatre appearing in the productions Running Wild, A Christmas Carol, Beauty and The Beast, Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan. But it is not as an actor that George is going to make his name in the theatre. He is currently back at the CFT as a trainee producer, rapidly building up all the experience he needs towards his future career.

“Six months to a year after Gypsy, I joined the youth theatre. I just wanted to do more productions. I went from doing Gypsy on the main house stage to doing a promenade show with the youth theatre and it was a great experience. It was a great opportunity and I did a number of other shows which I really enjoyed, working with my friends. But I really enjoyed seeing the behind-the-scenes side of things and the workings of the productions. I think being on stage was really great fun to do when I was younger but moving on I wanted to be on the organisational side, the side that just makes it all work and puts everything into place. That’s what I was drawn to, the enjoyment of putting all the pieces of the puzzle together and watching an audience enjoying something that you have helped to create.

“There's not necessarily a clear path to end up (becoming a producer) but there are natural skills that you probably need to have like being a good organiser and making sure that people are being managed and that they're enjoying what they do and that they're happy. I studied theatre at university and I was able to dip into different elements of it like lighting and sound and you could direct and you could design. My final project that I did was my own installation-based piece and that made me think that producing was something that I was really interested in doing.

“I looked at roles in London and the West End and it's really competitive and then this role popped up in Chichester as a trainee producer. It was initially for a year and they have extended the job for another six months until the end of September. It has been great. My first big project here was to produce The Jungle Book, the Christmas show from the youth theatre, with the help of one of the producers here. It's a really great experience and something that I am really grateful for. There are not many people that are given that opportunity.

"I came straight out of university and I didn't have a huge amount of experience in professional theatre so to be handed the reins of a show on the main-house stage was really special. For the summer I will end up working across all of the shows. I will be doing things like checking the availability of creatives and then drafting contracts for them and for actors and then just dealing with the day-to-day things that might crop up like a director wanting to meet an assistant director and having to organise that.

"There's quite a lot of pressure to it but I'm quite a laid-back person. I am quite good at dealing with pressure and I think it really helps to be able to keep cool. You just can't let the pressure get to you!”