Stars of the Shropshire stage get their 'wigle' on

Today, Get Your Wigle On has become something of a local entertainment phenomenon, bringing together more than 200 amateur performers from across the county to stage a procession of foot-tapping musicals.

It all started four years ago, in a rehearsal hall at Shrewsbury's Meole Brace High School, as the brainchild of Ross Wigley.

In partnership with James Broxton, he has led the group from strength to strength. It now has its own large performance studio at Castle Foregate and is planning to build links with performing arts academies in London. The aim is to helping Shropshire's most talented performers realise their dreams of performing in the West End.

Get Your Wigle On was behind a series of big Shrewsbury musicals, including High School Glee'sical, The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast. The latter two shows featured professional scenery and professional costumes, with Oz incorporating flying scenes. The year, the company is setting its sights equally high, with ambitious plans for five shows at Theatre Severn .

The run begins with Cats, with curtain up from April 2-3, immediately followed by Rent – in aid of The Severn Hospice – on April 4, with Annie then hitting the boards from June 19 to 23.

These shows are set to be followed by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Witches of Eastwick, as well as a performance of Alice In Wonderland which will take place in the studio.

After moving to one unit at the Castle Foregate business park last summer, the company relocated to a larger one in October, after spending two months putting up a dance floor with full length mirrors, a black box performance space, a music room, changing rooms (decorated by child members), a wardrobe storage room, kitchen and a lounge area for members and their parents.

The men behind Get Your Wigle On are well versed in the art of theatre performance. Ross comes from a musical theatre background, having a degree in Dance, while James is a vocal coach who has had classical music training from the age of 10.

James says: "We are passionate about giving people the opportunity to perform in theatre.

"Our oldest member is in her sixties and our youngest member is two. We direct and are in the shows ourselves. The children love it. They have a fantastic time. It's really rewarding for us to see kids grow in confidence and make new friends. And we do workshops over the holidays. They look at performing, theatre design, make up and costume."

Classes are held throughout the week at the studio, ranging from baby ballet and young musical theatre to tap and jazz to ukulele.

Contemporary dance is one of the classes that is quite rare to find in the area, James says

"We get a lot of good feedback from the shows, but a lot of people say, 'What's Get Your Wigle On and where are you?'"

Membership really took off after the group placed an advertisement in the Shropshire Star seeking child actors for a production of The Wizard of Oz. More people were then attracted by word of mouth.

"I'm so proud of this place," says James. "Sometimes we take it for granted but there's hardly anything like it in the area.

"It's also very good for kids who are perhaps going through bullying at school or are having problems at home. They can come here and make friends. We get comments like, 'This has really helped them get through it'. That's really rewarding."

James puts his students through vocal exams if they wish. He explains: "Some of our performances in the future are going to be graded when an examination board comes to the performances. That's really exciting."

But the main thing that Get Your Wigle On wants to offer is fun.

"At Get Your Wigle On we love to perform and the main aim for all of our sessions is to give the opportunity to do just that, James says.

"We are always busy in the studio working on future productions, and choose to approach each show with fun at the heart of every rehearsal.

"We want to give young and old people the opportunity and insight to perform musicals in a modern/young contemporary approach."

All proceeds from the forthcoming production of Rent will be going to The Severn Hospice in remembrance of one of its members who tragically died of cancer, Vicky Wakefield, a teacher at St Giles School. Members hope to make the fundraiser an annual event.

It isn't just James and Ross who work with the budding performers. Helping with acting classes is Nicola Steventon, who has done lots of television work, including Coronation Street and Waterloo Road. Beckie Hope, a music graduate, runs the ukulele classes, and primary school teacher Rachel Barton helps run young musical theatre sessions.

Sixteen-year-old apprentices, and current members, Nick Jones and Alice Young, are currently gaining experience for when they apply to performance colleges in London.

"We encourage them and they help us," says James.

So future plans? "I've got huge plans," smiles James. "I would love to build up links with performance academies in London and help members to get on to the West End and help them live their dreams. I want to take our members to the West End shows."

James believes their studio is offering something extra special to talented Shropshire people.

He said: "As a little boy, growing up in Wales, I did my training in a little community centre. With a place like this they have somewhere they can call their second home.

"I think it helps inspire them and drive them and gives them support. Here we are proud, passionate and full of energy."

Want to get involved? Log onto www.getyourwigleon.co.uk for more details.