LEISURE: Yeovil performer Louise Cannon aims for the West End - but will always remember her friends back home

BUDDING West End performer Louise Cannon has been “loving every second” of her first-ever professional stage role.

Former Westfield Academy student Louise, of Yeovil, who turned 18 earlier this year, is currently performing as Jill in the Jack and The Beanstalk pantomime at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, Surrey.

Louise, who is in the second year of studying musical theatre at the Performance Preparation Academy in Surrey, said: “I’m loving every second of panto. It is completely exhausting, but all of it is so worth it when you get such green reactions from the audience.”

She is following her dream of hopefully enjoying a wonderful stage career in the years ahead at some of the West End’s finest theatres – but she knows she owes a lot to the Yeovil-based Castaway Theatre Group led by Lynn Lee Brown which helped to nurture her performing talents.

“I personally don't think I would have ever had the confidence to pursue performing if it wasn’t for Lynn and the wonderful opportunities that Castaways had given me,” she told the Yeovil Press.

A group from Castaways – including Lynn – went up to Guildford to watch Louise in panto action and she was thrilled to know that they were in the audience.

“It meant so much to have the coach of Castaways and friends coming up to support me,” she said. “Being away from home at Christmas is obviously a hard thing to do, so to see all of the people that make home for me so special at the theatre was a great afternoon.”

PHOTO – TOP: Former Westfield Academy student Louise Cannon.

PHOTO – RIGHT: Louise Cannon as Jill with her co-star Jack (played by Steffan Lloyd-Evans).

The Castaway Theatre Group will soon be pulling out all the stops in its preparations for its biggest show to date – The Wizard of Oz – which will be performed at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil from June 2-4, 2016, with tickets priced £16 for adults and £14 for concessions.

The production will involve a 90-strong cast of young people – many of whom will have similar aspirations of stage careers as Louise.

And Louise had some good words of advice for her former Castaways and every other young budding thespian and performer.

“My words of advice would be to do whatever you want to do, don't let anyone tell you that you're not good enough to do it and work your socks off to get there because it will pay off one day,” she said.

“My own future ambitions for me would be to work up towards getting to the West End after finishing my diploma at the PerformancePreparationAcademy.”

Louise’s panto run in Jack and The Beanstalk is coming to an end at the theatre in Guildford with final performances set for Sunday (January 3, 2016) but you get the impression this is by no means the end of her stage career, but very much just the beginning……

PHOTO – ABOVE: Louise Cannon (left) with Castaway Theatre Group’s founder Lynn Lee Brown and fellow performer Jack Osmond during a celebration event with the Castaways in 2014.

PHOTO – ABOVE: Louise Cannon on stage at the 02 Arena during a Matilda medley when Castaway Theatre Group was invited to perform at the top London venue alongside other theatrical and musical groups from around the country in a show entitled West End Dreams.

PHOTO – ABOVE: Louise Cannon also performed with the Yeovil Youth Theatre and here she is as Sandy Dumbrowski (front centre) in the musical production of Grease back in 2013 at the Octagon Theatre.

PHOTO – ABOVE: Louise Cannon (right) as Prince William with Katie Orwin as Cinderella in the 2013 pantomime with the Castaway Theatre Group in Yeovil at the Swan Theatre.

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