The UK tour of Flashdance the Musical stopped off at the Everyman Theatre this week, and we were blown away. Not only did we watch the show on Thursday afternoon, but we had a workshop with Rikki Chamberlain, who plays Harry in the show, on Wednesday. Rikki was at drama school with Caro Day, who works in the Education and Community department at the theatre, proving it’s a case of who you know, not what you know, and so we were able to spend an afternoon with him, in the Everyman studio. During the workshop, Rikki worked on character development with the Stagedoor group, before teaching them the finale song and dance routine from the show – the iconic What A Feelin’. Rikki was absolutely brilliant, talking to the group about how he got into the industry, and chatting to them about their dreams and ambitions. We were then lucky enough to be invited along to the cast warm up on Thursday afternoon, prior to the matinee performance. Warm ups are usually strictly closed door, so it was a real privilege to be allowed in. After the show, the Stagedoor group met members of the cast, including Joanne Clifton, a familiar face from Strictly Come Dancing. As ever, we were overwhelmed by the generosity of the cast members who gave up their time to work with us, and very grateful to Caro for setting it all up.

In other news, we’re hard at work putting together our production of The Changing Room for National Theatre Connections 2018. We’ll be performing at the end of the month at the Everyman, and are really looking forward to it. Tickets are still available from the Everyman Box Office.