Consider yourself in, Arnold! Talented pooch wins Stafford theatre role
Talented pooch Arnold fits the bill perfectly to play Bullseye the dog in a stage production of Oliver! by Musical Theatre Stafford.
When members of the Stafford theatre group decided they were going to perform Oliver! this year, they knew their biggest challenge would be finding a dog to play Bullseye, Bill Sykes‘ side kick.
With the rest of the cast in place and rehearsals well under way, they decided last month that it was time to begin the search and took to Facebook in search of a dog.
They were so overwhelmed by the volume of responses that they decided the best way to choose was to hold a special audition.
A spokesman for Stafford Musical Theatre said: “We thought we would have difficulty finding a suitable dog to play Bullseye but we had over 15,000 views and more than 110 shares in the first 24 hours of posting on Facebook and our inbox was inundated with owners keen for their dog to appear in our show.
“We had so many dogs that looked the part, that we felt it only fair to hold a proper audition and meet them all.”
Hopeful owners were invited to attend the audition in August, where the pooches met each other, the production team and cast.
Jono Down who plays Bill Sykes and will be handling Bullseye on stage, spent time with each of the dogs, taking them for a walk away from their owners to see how they responded to him and if they followed his commands.
The dogs were also exposed to part of the dance rehearsal, a noisy environment with loud music and lots of dancing children.
The spokesman added: “We had five beautiful dogs attend the audition, Arnold, Buster, Lexi and Skye, all English Bull Terriers and Evie, who is a Staffie cross. All of the dogs behaved impeccably, were friendly and handled well, but after consultation with the director, Hannah Morris and Jono Down who plays Bill Sykes, we felt that Arnold was our perfect Bullseye. He really warmed to Jono straight away, was great with the children and completely unfazed by the noise.”
The cast of Oliver for this production includes 60 youngsters between the ages of eight and 18, as well as Arnold. Orhanisers say the end result will be a fantastic family friendly show that will have audiences begging for more.
Oliver, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart and orchestral arrangements by William David Brohn, and based on the Charles Dickens novel, plays at the Stafford Gatehouse Theatre from October 15 to 19.
Call 01785 619080 or buy online at www.musicaltheatrestafford.org.uk/oliver.
