Sarada Pillai will be sharing the role of Mowgli in The Jungle Book, the Christmas show from Chichester Festival Youth Theatre this year.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. One of the
00:06 great highlights every single year is Chichester Festival Youth Theatre on the Chichester Festival
00:11 Theatre stage at Christmas. This year, the Youth Theatre is doing The Jungle Book, which
00:16 is a very, very exciting prospect. And making her debut with Chichester Festival Youth Theatre
00:22 this year is Sarada. You've come in and gone straight into the role of Mowgli, which is
00:27 enormously exciting, isn't it?
00:29 Yes, definitely. I'm very excited.
00:32 How are you finding that role? What do you have to put across to be Mowgli?
00:39 It's very exciting trying to find her character when she's immersed in the jungle, where she's
00:45 a human, where people would say she doesn't belong, but she finds a way to belong and
00:49 fit in. And that's the only home she's ever known. So finding her characteristics and
00:53 the way she acts in the jungle has been really fun.
00:56 Yeah, and you were saying not just human, though. You've got to show the influence of
01:00 the animals who have brought you up. You've got to be somewhere in between the human world
01:06 and the animal world.
01:07 Yeah, because I guess she still has human physical characteristics, but the way she
01:11 acts with them, like her hands, her legs, the way she uses them is definitely different
01:16 to how we do in society. She'd probably pick up more from the animals and creatures she's
01:21 surrounded by. So, yeah, it's finding from fellow cast members who are acting as different
01:27 animals, finding what they do to make their animal characterised and then using that within
01:33 my role. It's been quite fun.
01:35 And this is the biggest acting role you've ever done, isn't it?
01:38 Yeah, definitely the biggest acting role I've done.
01:42 And your background was dancing. Is that part of the show as well?
01:46 Yeah, there were dance numbers not necessarily centred around me, but there are dance numbers
01:52 in the show. And yeah, it's really exciting.
01:55 And plenty of songs too, some of which fall to you. Tell me a bit about the music in the
01:59 show.
02:00 The music in the show, there's a whole different range. There's like, kind of more poppy, there's
02:04 like rock kind of, there's sadder songs, there's all different mixes. And it's a whole journey
02:09 just through the songs of the show.
02:11 That's great. And I think from the outside, we always get the feeling, the impression
02:15 that the Youth Theatre is just so warm and friendly and inclusive and welcoming, isn't
02:19 it? And that's been your experience, because this is your first time with them. How did
02:23 you find it when you joined?
02:25 Yeah, I've only been part of the Youth Theatre for like two months now, due to the show,
02:31 and they've all been so welcoming from the get go. Like, I've never had a bad experience.
02:36 I was nervous to begin with, because I didn't know anyone. But I mean, the first session
02:41 and it was, everyone was so welcoming. And I'm close with a lot of them now.
02:46 And on the back of this show coming up, you will join the Youth Theatre?
02:50 Yeah, yeah, no, definitely. From January on, I'll be joining the Youth Theatre group. So
02:54 that's exciting.
02:55 And it's going to be a very, very busy Christmas you have in prospect, while the rest of us
02:59 are relaxing.
03:00 Yeah, no, it's exciting. I'm happy to make other people's Christmas special, but it's
03:06 also special for us. It's not like we're sacrificing how good our Christmas is going
03:11 to be. But it's always good to see other people have a good time and put on a show for them,
03:15 but also being around people that we've grown close through during the process.
03:19 Fantastic. Well, it sounds wonderful. It sounds really lovely prospect this Christmas to see
03:25 the Jungle Book on the stage with Chichester's best We Youth Theatre. So thank you so much
03:29 for your time. Really lovely to speak to you. And I hope you have the most fabulous experience.
03:34 Thank you.
03:35 Thank you.
03:36 Bye.
03:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]