Actor Dieter back on home ground

By Anne Morris »

ACTOR Dieter Thomas is hoping to see some familiar faces in the audience when he performs the role of Tybalt in the Shakespeare 4 Kidz musical production of Romeo and Juliet, at Salisbury’s City Hall on November 24.

For Dieter, who is now 29, is returning to his home patch with the London-based touring company. Brought up in Fordingbridge, Dieter went to Fordingbridge Junior School before going on to the Burgate School where he studied performing arts in the sixth form before heading to London to study drama. His mother still lives in Fordingbridge though Dieter has now made London his base.

He started treading the boards at the tender age of seven when he lived in Cornwall: “I was the Guardian of the Gate in a production of The Wizard of Oz and had to wear a rather fetching green sequinned tunic,” he muses.

When his family moved to Fordingbridge, he joined the Victoria Players, then known as St Mary’s Players. Joining the youth group, his first appearance was in Continental Capers and he stayed with the Players, performing at the Victoria rooms in Fordingbridge, until his move to London.

Dieter has a long list of theatre credits, and some of his favourite parts to date include Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Arbiter in Chess and a recent production of Thoroughly Modern Millie at Richmond Theatre.

Performing, he thinks, runs in his blood as Dieter is the great great nephew of the screen legend and comedian, Will Hay.

“Will Hay was my great great uncle on my dad’s side and it is fitting that I studied drama in West London and have recently been shooting some short films at Ealing Studios, where so many of his films were made.

“If I can hope to be half as successful as my great great uncle was then that would be great.”

This is the first time that Dieter has performed on stage anywhere near his home town of Fordingbridge, and he is looking forward to it: “I am hoping that students from my old school will come and see the show.”

Dieter is taking the role of Tybalt in this musical production by Shakespeare 4 Kidz, a British theatre company that specialises in musical adaptations of classic Shakespeare stories and is especially suitable for young people studying Shakespeare at school.

* Tickets for Romeo and Juliet are available from the City Hall box office on 01722 434434.

See the original article online at the Salisbury Journal