Alistair Brammer - from Exmouth to ‘Saigon’ Alistair Brammer is a well-known star of both Stage and Screen, most notably leading roles in both the West End and Broadway and in the BBC’s long-running TV drama series - Casualty. However, Centre Stage, Exmouth – a leading youth Theatre Group in the South West and affiliated to NODA, had a big hand in starting this all off. We asked Alistair how it all began…
amateur. Centre Stage introduced me to a real mix of different genres – from Rogers and Hammerstein to Gilbert and Sullivan, Cole Porter to Schönberg and Boublil. I was rehearsing for The Scarlett Pimpernel at the Northcott Theatre, for a musical society in Exeter, when I got a call to play understudy Joseph in the UK Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The following day I took a train to Edinburgh to start rehearsals!
How did it all start for you? I must have been 15 and my friend Lucy Green (whom I’m still friends with now) invited me along to see her in a Performance of Oliver! by Centre Stage in Exmouth, near to where I’m from. I had no idea what it was all about or what was likely to go on really, as my family had no real experience of drama or musical theatre. But I was absolutely mesmerized by it – I couldn’t believe what they were all doing and how cool it was – I was hooked! The following week there were auditions for their next production – The Pirates of Penzance and I went along. I sang ‘Happy Birthday’ – which is not as crazy at is sounds as it is musically really good for singing intervals and I got the part of Samuel – the Pirate King’s sidekick and I was in! When did you know it was what you wanted to do forever? I really enjoyed what I was doing as I did more productions and found all of it so interesting - but I guess that moment came the following year. I had been cast as Marius in Centre Stage’s Schools Production of Les Miserables. It was also the 20th anniversary of the London Production and they were also inviting kids from the schools’ edition productions NODA Today - Spring 2021
going on at that time to send in audition tapes, which I did. Of the 1000 entries, only 35 were invited to London and I was one of them! It got even crazier when I was cast as Marius for the anniversary production in London – at 16 and within a year of starting. I remember standing on the stage of what was the Queen’s Theatre and looking up and thinking “I could do this….” and then 4 years later I was cast as Marius in the London production in the same theatre –I’d come full-circle. It was truly amazing - and quite mad! What support did you get from Centre Stage? Centre Stage were my preparation for the Industry as I didn’t go to Drama School and had only started at 15. They sparked my interest and were my training. It was Centre Stage Director Mark Worsley who drove me up to London for the audition for Les Miserables too. After the schools’ production in London, my performances were back as an
I would like to thank everyone at Centre Stage for kick-starting my interest in what is now my job. I’m pretty sure I need to thank Graham Liverton too, whom is the NODA Southwest Councillor and also my mum’s cousin! I’m sure he helped somewhere – including setting up this interview! What have been the highlights of your career so far? There have been a quite few. The 25th anniversary performance of Miss Saigon (which was on TV on Boxing Day) saw me reunited with the original Chris, Simon Bowman – who was my Jean Valjean when I started on Les Miserables. I also got to perform with Lea Salonga, the original Kim which was a real thrill. Most people do not realise how big a star she is in her home country of the Philippines and she was also the voice of the original Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. I guess Broadway was a box I never thought I’d tick. After I’d been a leading man in the West End as Chris in Miss Saigon, I got back from my honeymoon to a request to perform the part on Broadway! Playing an American character in an American themed musical about a key event in
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