Peter Francis talks about his role as Captain Von Trapp

Peter Francis has a lot of sympathy with Captain Von Trapp, the character he plays in The Sound of Music. While the Captain has to deal with seven unruly children, Peter has a menagerie of ducks, geese, goats and 40 alpacas at his farm in Up Nately.

"They keep me busy," laughs the father-of-two, whose own two children are at university. "But there's no way I wanted to miss the chance to be in The Sound of Music."

Peter Francis in rehearsal | BATS, The Sound of Music

In fact, it was the first musical Peter ever saw: "My parents took me to the film when I was about five years old, and I was completely entranced. I remember wanting to be Rolf, the post boy, who sings 'Sixteen Going On Seventeen.'"

That was in 1966, and Peter admits he's rather long-in-the-tooth to be Rolf now. Instead, he takes on the role of the stern patriarch played by Christopher Plummer in the film, who falls in love with Maria, the children's governess. In the BATS production, Laura Newborough has the Julie Andrews role.

"I'm six foot three and Laura is...slightly shorter!" smiles Peter. "But love triumphs, despite the height difference!"

Working with two teams of seven children is challenging. "Usually I get the gist of my lines first, paraphrase a fair bit in rehearsal and gradually work towards getting the words right. You can't do that with children. They're waiting for their exact cue! It's keeping me on my toes!"

'The Sound of Music' is the BATS debut for Peter and his real-life partner Joy, who plays one of the nuns. They met through amateur dramatics.

"I'm most looking toward to hearing the reaction of the audience to those wonderful songs," says Peter. "'Edelweiss', 'Climb Every Mountain', 'My Favourite Things' - they mean so much to people. It's going to be a great show."

The Sound of Music run from Wed 13th – Sat 23rd November at The Haymarket.

Kirsty Kingham talks about her role as Baroness Schraeder

She prefers posh parties to puppet shows. She gets a love rival sacked from her job. Worst of all, she doesn't like children. No wonder Baroness Elsa Schraeder is the one character fans of The Sound of Music love to hate!

"But I think she's just misunderstood," laughs Kirsty Kingham, the real-life mum-of-two who's playing the role of the Baroness in Basingstoke Amateur Theatrical Society's production of the evergreen musical. "Look at it this way. She meets the handsome widower Captain Von Trapp, she brings some fun back into his life and they get engaged."

Kirsty Kingham plays Frau Schraeder | BATS, The Sound of Music

"Then this nun Maria comes along and teaches his annoying children how to sing. The Captain falls completely in love with her and the Baroness can't compete. I think the audience should feel sorry for her, actually!"

The Baroness may resent the way Maria brings music into the Von Trapp household, but Kirsty herself has a beautiful soprano voice, as heard in her previous BATS lead roles, Marion Paroo in The Music Man (2008) and Grace Farrell in Annie (2006). Elsewhere she's played Eliza in My Fair Lady and Nancy in Oliver!

Kirsty also loves working with children - she runs the choir at her daughters' school and is training to be a teacher at the University of Winchester.

But in The Sound of Music, Kirsty enjoys playing the diva. She exchanges some wonderfully barbed dialogue with Laura Newborough, who plays Maria, and performs two witty songs, "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way To Stop It."

"I can really put my stamp on them because they aren't as iconic as songs like "Do-Re-Mi" or "My Favourite Things", she enthuses. "And it's just an absolute delight to be singing the wonderful music of Rodgers and Hammerstein. I hope you enjoy hearing it as much as we enjoy performing it." The Sound of Music run from Wed 13th – Sat 23rd November at The Haymarket, including two Saturday matinées and two Sunday matinées on 17 November.

In rehearsal with 'The Baddies' for Little Shop of Horrors

BATS returns to the Haymarket later this month with one of Broadway’s favourite musicals, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’. The show features great 1960’s style songs and a story that pastiches old-style horror movies. Downtrodden shop assistant, Seymour Krelborn finds a strange exotic plant during a solar eclipse. When the plant begins to speak and demands to be fed, Seymour enters into a terrible pact which he believes will win him true love. But not one, but three baddies stand in his way, pictured from left to right - Joe Humberstone, Ian 'Spud' Smith and Anthony Mitchell.

Joe Humberstone, Ian 'Spud' Smith and Anthony Mitchell in rehearsal

Anthony Mitchell plays Seymour’s boss, the bitter flower shop owner Mr Mushnik. “He took Seymour under his wing and gave him a home, but he never made anything of his own life,” explains Anthony. “Then he gets a chance to make a load of easy money by praying upon Seymour’s naivety. Of course, that ultimately becomes the route to his own come-uppance.”

2013 marks Anthony’s 30th year with BATS. “I’m so pleased to be doing Little Shop of Horrors” he says. “You’ll leave the theatre with a broad grin on your face, humming the catchy numbers – and wondering just what that huge weed in your garden really is!”

Ian ‘Spud’ Smith is another BATS stalwart – he’s providing the voice for the monstrous man-eating plant, Audrey 2, and has an apology for his neighbours. “My songs are very loud – when I rehearse at home I wonder what they think as they hear me chant “Feed Me Blood” at the top of my voice!”

Spud’s striking looks have often seen him cast in ‘baddie’ roles, like Bill Sikes in ‘Oliver!’ and Jud Fry in ‘Oklahoma!’ but he’s keen to stress he’s not always been a rotter – “I once played Wendy in Peter Pan!”

Spud confesses he’s been bowled over by the enthusiasm and dedication of the younger members of the cast. Among them, Joe Humberstone, who plays the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello.

“He’s sarcastic and disturbing to watch,” says Joe of his character, who’s pretty nasty to his girlfriend Audrey and downright evil to hapless hero Seymour. But can any of these villains match up to the legendary Queen of Mean, who Joe faced on TV’s The Weakest Link? He admits he wilted under Anne Robinson’s fearsome glare. “I went out in the first round after getting a question wrong – doh!”

Six performances of Little Shop of Horrors run from Tues 14th – Sat 18th May at The Haymarket, Basingstoke.

In rehearsal with the Sha-bop Girls for Little Shop of Horrors

Pictured from left to right - Meet Ronette (Kirsty Bennett), Chiffon (Louise Gains) and Crystal (Jade Hollingshead). Their names conjure up memories of glamorous American girl groups from the early 1960s. That’s a big clue to the type of music this sassy trio will be performing in the BATS production of the Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors at the Haymarket in May.

The Sha-bop Girls in rehearsal

Played by Louise Gains, Kirsty Bennett and Jade Hollingshead, the Sha-bop Girls, as they’re called, provide some sweet 60’s sounds as the comedy/horror storyline unfolds.

“There are a lot of challenges,” says Jade. “Always singing in close harmony, getting the dance moves in sync together...” Kirsty agrees: “It’s the timing, moving exactly the same as the other girls.” For Louise it’s a bigger ask: “I have two left feet,” she admits, “it’s out of my comfort zone!” But other aspects of the character are easier to find: “The Sha-bop Girls are lively, streetwise and a bit cheeky – like me!”

The Sha-bop Girls pop in and out of the action as hapless shop assistant Seymour tries to keep the gruesome secret of his man-eating plant. Their sizzling songs offer a wry commentary as the plant grows to a massive size and aims for world domination.

Little Shop of Horrors is the first time the three girls have sung together, and they’re loving it. “It’s such an amazing group of people,” says Kirsty. “The show’s going to be brilliant!”

Aside from previous shows with BATS, Kirsty used to be a holiday camp entertainer and reached the final of Basingstoke’s Festival Factor singing competition. Louise has performed on the main stage of Basingstoke Live and been heard on Radio 1 Xtra. Jade has taken lead roles in ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Our House’ with BATS Next Gen.

“I’m looking forward to the craziness of costumes, lights, and seeing the whole show come together,” says Louise of the prospect of performing at The Haymarket. For Jade, it’s all about “making my friends and family proud, believing in myself, and not giving up on my dreams to be in the West End.” And what’s Kirsty most looking forward to? “Seeing the giant plant on stage!”

Six performances of Little Shop of Horrors run from Tues 14th – Sat 18th May at The Haymarket, Basingstoke.

In rehearsal with Ian Moseley and Laura Newborough for Little Shop of Horrors

When you see a giant Venus flytrap bellowing a promise of untold riches to a hapless shop assistant, as long as he keeps feeding it the corpses of local down-and-outs, you know you’re not watching a usual BATS performance.

The story of Little Shop of Horrors is pure B-movie. The songs are a fantastic mix of Motown, rock ‘n’ roll and doo-wop – and there’s not a sparkly tap shoe in sight.

Ian Moseley and Laura Newborough in rehearsal

BATS has chosen to shake things up this year, with a new style of show, a new director and a largely new cast who are rising brilliantly to the challenge of staging one of Broadway’s favourite rock and pop musicals.

Ian Moseley and Laura Newborough take on their first lead roles for the Society. Ian plays nerdy shop boy Seymour Krelborn, while Laura plays his ditzy co-worker, and object of his unrequited affection, Audrey. Both have plenty of prior stage experience – Ian with a church drama group and Laura as a session singer and child performer.

What’s been the biggest challenge in Little Shop of Horrors? “Remembering my lines,” says Laura. “It used to be so easy…and then I had children, I’m sure it kills the brain cells!” For Ian, “It’s the physicality of the role. After setting Act One I had large painful bruises so needed to invest in some padding.” A wise precaution – Ian once broke his wrist on stage in panto.

Both are loving rehearsals. “We’re working hard but we still have lots of laughs and plenty of fun,” says Ian. Laura agrees. “The cast are such a lovely lot and the chemistry between us all is great! I think the Society is in a really good place right now – so much enthusiasm and fresh talent!”

Exactly how a monstrous man-eating plant will come to life on the Haymarket stage is a closely guarded secret, but Ian confirms they’ve been rehearsing with various different props to help: “Recently it was a dinosaur puppet called Terrance.”

So how would they sum up the show? Laura plumps for “Amazing music, hilarious melodramatic storyline, all very silly but very catchy and fun!”

For Ian, “It’s funny, it’s sad, and the songs really rock!”

Six performances of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ run from Tues 14th – Sat 18th May at The Haymarket, Basingstoke.