Gershwin double bill “perfect for the whole family" from University of Chichester

He’s part of the university’s Triple Threat Company who are offering an all-singing, all-dancing, Gershwin double bill which they promise is “perfect for the whole family.”

My One And Only was the first part. It is now followed by Nice Work If You Can Get It the Alexandra Theatre, Bognor Regis on Thursday, November 24, 7.30pm; Friday, November 25, 7.30pm; Saturday, November 26, 2.30pm; and Saturday, November 26, 7.30pm. Box office 01243 861010 or alexandratheatre.co.uk.

Nice Work If You Can Get It transports us to the roaring 20s in a Sweet and Lowdown speakeasy where we meet Jimmy Winter (Elliot), a wealthy playboy, now celebrating his fourth engagement to the shallow Eileen Evergreen. He stumbles into trouble when he meets Billie Bendix, a tough and feisty bootlegger whose dangerous plan to stash 400 cases of gin throws them into a frenzy of romance and deception. Together, they will use the power of disguise and charisma to keep their secret undercover, but will Jimmy settle for his new bride or will he finally listen to his heart?

Elliot, who is originally from the Manchester area, has certainly found his theatrical home at the university: “I'm in my second year and I was just going to all the open days and looking at the experiences. And the experiences that the university we're offering here just felt like the best fit. At the open day I was talking to the students and everybody was so very enthusiastic and interested and everybody was wanting to be asked questions and they were just all really really excited to be talking about the course that they were doing. And a lot of the lecturers were there as well, and just speaking to them they just seemed a really, really lovely bunch of people.”

And all those hopes and expectations have now been met, Elliot is delighted to say: “I have absolutely loved the experience. It has been amazing. You see all the lecturers and you think they're just regular people but they have been in the business and they've been everywhere. and they will always give you that amazing little nugget of information that is just absolutely on the spot.”

In terms of the pandemic, Elliot and his year have been lucky, with everything pretty bunch back to normal: “You can see all the things that are being reintroduced and it's just been perfect for us. I know the third-years had some things that they had to do online and so on but for us it has been normal.”

And Elliot is certainly starting to see the benefits: “I think the main thing for me is certainly that I'm so much more confident. When I started off, I was not the most confident or the most outgoing person but through the process of getting up and having a go and always being encouraged by the lecturers just to try, I feel that I've grown tremendously. Working on shows I feel that I can just dive right into the characters rather than being stressed about whether I can learn the lines or not and also I think I see it in social situations where I'm so much more confident.”