A barrel of laughs

WELTEVREDEN PARK – The Franklin Players will be bringing Robin Hood – Heroes and Friends to the stage next week. The Northsider sat down with Devan Fleetwood who plays one half of the duo “Nick It” and “Scale It” ahead of the production.

Name: Devan Fleetwood

Age: 17

Suburb: Weltevreden Park

Roodepoort Northsider: Tell us a bit about yourself – what do you do for fun?

Devan Fleetwood: Well, I spend most of my day at school, especially from 8am to 2pm. When I’m not doing school work, I really enjoy being on the stage whether it’s singing or acting or both. I really enjoy my hockey and love to play my guitar whenever I get a chance. I’ve always been one to help people in need and therefore I’m part of the Northcliff High First Aid Team. I love spending time with my friends and family and absolutely love a good PlayStation game.

RN: Are you single? Do you live with your family?

DF: I am currently single (hint hint) and live with my parents, brother and sister.

RN: Tell us about your character in Robin Hood – Heroes and Friends.

DF: Hahaha, I play Nick It alongside my best friend Gareth, who plays his brother Scale It. Nick It and Scale It are the bumbling idiots of the panto (I mean, what’s a panto without two idiots) who are The Sheriff’s Guards and are always doing his dirty work, the only problem is that they never seem to get it right. This role is an absolute ball, I am having so much fun especially because the brothers are blithering idiots and it’s always fun to see what Gareth and I come up with just to make them as stupid as they are.

RN: Why did you want to be part of this production?

DF: I’ve always loved acting and have jumped at every opportunity to be on stage so when Gareth mentioned it to me I had to join. It’s been an awesome experience so far, meeting all these talented new people and seeing what community theatre is like. I’ve only ever done productions at Northcliff High. It’s a new experience and a hell of a jol.

RN: Why is community theatre important to you?

DF: Well, I would like to go into performing arts and any experience is good experience and community theatre lays down the foundation for that. I have learned so much about theatre during this rehearsal process, and it’s been great to see different ways in which different directors’ work and the different genres of stage productions come together. I think community theatre is an awesome way to introduce someone like myself to the performing arts.

RN: If you could play any character in any panto or musical – who would it be?

DF: Wow, that’s a hard one. I would love to play Danny in Grease one day, or maybe even Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.

RN: Have you ever had any funny or embarrassing moments during rehearsals – could you share one with us?

DF: Well, Gareth and I are the clowns of the cast and we’re always embarrassing ourselves in front of everyone and making everyone laugh but if I have to give one moment it would have to be continually saying one of the other character’s lines when we were still using our scripts. Nick It and Scale It have a big section of dialogue which gets cut off by one of the other characters and what must have been 15 times at least I would carry on going, reading, I think, Mrs Penniless’ lines and realising half way through while turning into a tomato in the process.

Be sure to watch Robin Hood – Heroes and Friends live at the Franklin Players on select dates between 22 November and 1 December.

Details: Wendy 082 366 9987, franklinbookings@gmail.com, www.franklin.org.za