If you saw the Australian musical production of Roald Dahl’s classic tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and there a chance that the lead actor before you was from St John Bosco Catholic Primary School Engadine.
Year 5 student Tommy Blair was one of the four young actors cast as the boy who wins a golden ticket to genius confectioner Willy Wonka’s lolly factory.
My best memory of working on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is probably my first audience.
Tommy has taken on more than six roles since his first with Engadine Musical Society at age eight. He said he hoped the audience had as much fun watching the play as he has performing in it.
“I started acting and singing in year two because my dad said that I should give it a try,” he said. “In one of my previous shows, the director said that this was coming up and that I should audition, so I did. My best memory of working on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory so far is probably my first show with my first audience.”
Tommy prepared for his shared role with a month of rehearsals and said his school had been supportive of his theatre interest.
“They’ve been really encouraging,” he said.