CAOS Musical Productions are breaking new ground: ahead of their big musical Legally Blonde in November, they are slipping in a play.
They will be taking to the stage with 'Allo 'Allo on Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2 at Westbourne House School, Chichester, a piece based on the popular TV series which ran for nine series between
They will be taking to the stage with 'Allo 'Allo on Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2 at Westbourne House School, Chichester, a piece based on the popular TV series which ran for nine series between
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Fabulous
00:05 to be speaking to Adam Fox and Luke Henley, who are breaking new ground with Chichester's
00:11 Chaos Musical Productions, and you are doing 'Ello, Ello' at Westbourne House on September
00:17 the 1st and the 2nd. Obviously a play, not a musical, which has been your speciality.
00:22 Adam and Luke, this is something that predates both of you. Adam was born the year the last
00:29 'Ello, Ello' was screened, and as you say, Luke, you were the ripe old age of one. Now,
00:34 does this feel like a bit of nostalgia for both of you, Adam, tell me?
00:38 I mean it makes us feel young for a change.
00:40 Well you're making me feel old, actually!
00:44 Yeah, no, it's nice. We feel like our era know it because our parents knew it and that's
00:51 where it goes, and then the era below us wouldn't know it at all, so it's nice to kind of bridge
00:55 that gap. I think it's the right time for it in terms of we'll know it, the era above
01:01 us will know it, and the era below will be reintroduced to it. So it felt like the right
01:08 time where it was in that mix, where you've got a good mix of people that will know it
01:11 back to front, our age group that will know it but weren't around for it, and then the
01:17 era below us, 18 year olds and that kind of area, that will be completely reintroduced
01:22 to it.
01:23 And Luke, your job is to play Rene. What do we make of this character? Or what do you
01:29 make of it?
01:31 Yeah, it's a lot of responsibility. Again, Alolo is such a cultural name. I remember
01:37 watching it with my dad and the second that a lot of that generation, like my family,
01:43 have heard that I'm now doing it, their faces light up at the idea. So it's definitely
01:48 a lot of responsibility.
01:49 How do you put him across? What's the essence of this guy?
01:56 Nervous, chaotic, control freak. It's just you don't stop, you don't get to rest at
02:02 all.
02:03 Why did they think of casting you?
02:07 I've absolutely no idea. The notes I get from Adam are quite a lot, are either 'look
02:14 more confused' or 'look less confused'.
02:17 There's a sliding scale of confusion.
02:20 There's a particular degree of confusion he wants, clearly.
02:23 Yeah, exactly.
02:24 Very particular, I am.
02:26 And Adam, you are directing, first time directing with Chaos. You've directed before. What's
02:33 the pleasure of directing?
02:37 The whole thing of directing for me is seeing it all come together in the end. You've got
02:42 this whole process of rehearsing and rehearsing and over and over again, and it gets a little
02:45 bit better and it gets a little bit better. And then at the end of it, you see this piece
02:49 that you can see how far it's come and how it's built and built and built and people
02:54 gradually getting into their characters and the pace getting better and the comedy getting
02:59 better and it landing. And especially with the comedy at the end of it, you get a very
03:03 audible, 'we've done a good job on this one' because people are laughing, you know
03:08 you've nailed it. So I think for me, it's gradually building it and building it. And
03:12 then seeing that end payoff is, it's a big hit of serotonin when you get there because
03:17 you're sat there watching it going, 'we did this, we did good things, well done guys'.
03:21 And there's a degree of pressure, isn't there, because you're wanting this to be a new direction
03:26 for the company.
03:27 Yeah, that enticed me to do it as well from a committee point of view, because I'm on
03:33 the committee, it was a new direction for us and it felt right for someone on the committee
03:38 to be heading it up because we know the company's priorities, we know where we're going with
03:42 it, I knew exactly what audience we're aiming at, I know a low well from a parent, so I
03:46 knew exactly what it needed to be, I knew what comedy it needed to be. So it just felt
03:51 right to be in the hot seat for that one and drive it forwards, essentially.
03:56 And then back to a big musical later in the year, isn't it?
03:59 Yeah, and then we're rehearsing them alongside each other. So we've got a low-a-low rehearsing
04:04 one night and then we've got Legally Blonde rehearsing on another night. And when a low-a-low
04:10 finishes, we then rehearse two nights for Legally Blonde. So we like to keep ourselves
04:14 busy. We don't like to stand still for long. But it was, yeah, we wanted to get this offering
04:19 out to people for both actors and the rest.
04:22 And that's one of the things about Chaos, I think in recent years you've really kind
04:26 of reinvented yourselves and become a very useful company.
04:29 More challenges.
04:30 Pardon?
04:31 Yeah, well, take useful.
04:32 And useful was what I said, but useful is two.
04:38 Yeah, we've tried to be as active as we can by the time we get through Covid and all the
04:43 rest of it. We've just tried to keep the society driving and moving forward in a positive manner
04:48 really and we hope that's what we've done.
04:50 Fantastic. So just to reiterate then, a low-a-low September the 1st and 2nd at Westbourne House.
04:56 Adam and Luke, lovely to speak to you and good luck with everything.
05:00 You too, thank you so much.
05:01 Thank you, Phil.