5th Form King's pupil, Archie, spent his half-term holiday on the stage performing in Bugsy Malone

5^th Form King's pupil, Archie, spent his half-term holiday on the stage in Frome performing in Bugsy Malone...

Bugsy Malone is set in 1929, during the prohibition period in America. The play is set around this one character, you guessed it, Bugsy Malone, who picks the side of Fat Sam - a gangster who is fighting over territory and reputation with Dandy Dan and her hoodlums. This play mocks the gangsters of the time by having the characters larger than life and over exaggerated. 

I was involved in a performance of Bugsy Malone at Frome Memorial Theatre. This was with a company called Spellbound. There was a weekend audition process in February 2020, and I auditioned for the part of Cagey Joe (who was the head trainer at Slugger's Gym).  

I did get the part, and every Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to rehearse at the Memorial Theatre. But then, the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and the play was postponed. I continued to learn my lines and practice my role throughout the summer. Just when we thought that the pandemic had calmed down and life had returned to normal, the second national lockdown struck so the show was then cancelled for good. 

Miraculously, in February 2021, the company decided to put it back on again. However, with the show being cancelled for some time, some of the older members of the cast had had to move on. So, some other roles opened up. One of those roles was Fizzy, the lonely janitor, who wants to be a dancer, and yet is continuously told to wait for tomorrow for his audition. That role got offered up to me on top of my role as Cagey Joe. I mulled it over, and eventually agreed to pursue the role. It was supposed to be performed in August of 2020 and later was performed in October 2021 during half-term.  

When show night rolled around, all the cast was nervous and excited - this play had been almost two years in the making and finally, we got to perform it. There were three performances - one matinee and two evening performances. It was a riot of a good time to practice and perform. My favourite part in the whole performance was the splurge gun fight (splurge was foam which was the substitute for guns). This was because by the end everyone was a white mess and slipping all over the place.  

Spellbound does a different play every year. Next year's performance will be of The Little Mermaid in August 2022. I would recommend getting involved with the production as it has been a brilliant experience in the past.  
Archie - 5^th Form - Lyon House

During half-term, I had the pleasure of seeing Archie in Bugsy Malone at the Frome Memorial Theatre. It was great to be able to back at a theatre in person and to be able to support a local youth theatre company after two postponements was even better. I was extremely impressed with the professionalism of the cast and the energy they maintained throughout the performance. However, the highlight was seeing Archie smash two singing solos and successfully multi-role two of my favourite characters from the production. The resilience shown to maintain focus on the production after the delays was remarkable and the entire cast should be extremely proud.
Will Stainton - Head of Performing Arts

Huge congratulations to Archie @KSBLyonHouse for his opening night of #BugsyMalone @fromemtc @FromeMemorial! Great performance! Break a leg today for your final two performances. #theatre #musicaltheatre pic.twitter.com/6ZQ3lSZQqs

— KSB Performing Arts (@KSBTheatre) October 27, 2021