THE Child Catcher may be every youngster’s nightmare – but he has turned into a dream for a set of triplets.
The brothers have landed an acting role alongside arguably the scariest villain of all time.
Eleven-year-olds Thaddeus, Cameron and Justin Stimpson Naylor have been chosen to play sewer children hiding from the Child Catcher in a new production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The show opens at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, on August 21.
The boys, who live in Ditchling Road, Brighton, have impressed the team with their acting talents.
Keith Shepherd, producer of the show and chairman of Brighton Theatre Group, said: “We are delighted to have the triplets Thaddeus, Cameron and Justin on the team.
“They are spirited, good natured boys who recently played in the choir for the Brighton show of the Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat tour starring Union J’s Jaymi Hensley.”
Justin will also understudy for the role of Jeremy Potts, one of Caractus Potts’s children, who falls in love with the magical flying car.
Justin said: “It is good to have my brothers with me because we know each other really well, and no one else in the show knows us as well.”
The boys, who went to Downs Junior School and will be moving up to Dorothy Stringer next month, were chosen from hundreds of hopeful youngsters who auditioned for the production.
Cameron said: “It’s been absolutely brilliant.
“Every single family who comes will be impressed by how much practice we have put in.”
The cast had a float in the Brighton Pride parade at the weekend and had a great time giving out leaflets and tellingpeople about the show.
Thaddeus said: “We’ve been practising all the lines and now we are running through the show.
“At first we didn’t practise together, but after six weeks now we are.”
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is one of the most popular children’s films of all time – the original Ken Hughes production was loosely based on a novel by Ian Fleming.
The Brighton show will feature many of the film’s acclaimed songs, including Toot Sweets, Hushabye Mountain and Me Ol’ Bamboo – and a “flying Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.
The classic family musical was chosen by Brighton Theatre Group to be performed as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.
It is to be directed by Michael Burnie with choreography by Jodie Michele and will run from August 21 to 24.
Tickets are on sale now.
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