A Summer Holiday in Brighton, what could be better?

An upbeat and fun journey made by four transport mechanics as they take a classic British double-decker bus across Europe.

The show is making its bow at the Theatre Royal next week and ahead of the cast and crew setting up for a holiday on the famed Brighton stage, Jamie Walker caught up with Rory Maguire, who plays Cyril, the role once held by actor Melvyn Hayes, to discuss the show.

Tell me about Summer Holiday and how you got involved with it?

I was on tour with Mamma Mia and I got a call from Summer Holiday asking if I was up for the gig. I went to the auditions, and they were pretty intense auditions, heavily dance based with a lot of choreography.

It was great, really intense but fun. A couple of weeks later I got a call offering me the role. It was brilliant.

What was it that appealed to you about the show?

In this day and age, with everything that’s going on in the world, it’s such a lovely show to be a part of. I remember my mum and dad watching the film with me when I was little, and I think it’s so British and old school.

My favourite thing about doing the show is looking at the audience, some of whom are men and women at the age of 80, and it just bringing them back to their youth.

There’s a song in it called The Young ones which is such a beautiful tune and they’re singing along and it’s great. It’s also quite a modern adaptation, which is nice to bring to the show too.

Tell us a bit about your character, Cyril?

Cyril is a bit daffy and fun loving. It’s just such an energetic and intense show. The tunes are massive. We have an actually double-decker bus that moves and turns, it’s all just really good fun.

Have you been enjoying the 1960s vibe the show creates?

Everyone’s having so much fun adapting to their characters. Melvin Hayes played Cyril in the film and people at the stage door will talk about how much they love Melvyn Hayes and the similarities between us, which is very much a compliment because he’s hilarious.

Also with what Ray [Quinn} does, when he plays Don, is just like Cliff [Richard] and he’s really adapted to his character on stage, it’s just fun to be involved with all that. The story is also just really innocent, just some young people having fun, and I think that really comes across. I’m always cracking up on stage it’s such a laugh.

Is it sometimes tough to keep character with that?

There are so many funny moments where everyone is involved, even the audience, so it’s not necessarily breaking that fourth wall. There’s definitely an element of that comfortability to the whole show.

You mentioned Ray Quinn earlier, what’s he been like to work with?

He’s been awesome, he’s absolutely golden. I think with a lot of shows, when you get celebrity casting, you don’t always know what to expect.

He’s a proper triple threat and he works so hard. From day one he just brings this energy to the room and he’s just such a lovely guy as well, working with him has been absolutely great.

He’s such a hard worker but he keeps everyone else on their feet because he’s so fit. He’s incredible, he really is.

The tour has already been going a while, how’s it been going?

It’s been great so far. You get different reactions from everywhere you go, different audiences can be more settled than others.

When you’re up north in Glasgow or Edinburgh or something they’ll be really rowdy.

It’s just so nice to go to smaller theatres as well; Edinburgh Playhouse is massive, it’s like 3,000 seats, and then we went to York which is a lot smaller so you get to play it a bit differently.

Somewhere like Brighton is more intimate which means you can play it more like the film, but in bigger venues you can make it all a bit bigger.

There must be something so nice about that rawness of theatre, the fact that each performance will be different?

Oh yeah 100 per cent. In the shows there’s almost a little bit of an improv feel. There’s lots of storytelling while other things are going on.

The audience reaction can change things too. Then at the end we have a bit mega-mix of songs from the film which gets people on their feet.

Is Brighton somewhere you’ve played shows before?

I performed at the Theatre Royal when I was about 13, and I was doing Oliver Twist, with Brighton Theatre Group.

So what do you make of Brighton as a city?

Brighton has been my bread and butter since I was little, I actually trained here at The Brighton Academy. I spent so much time there training and the amateur dramatics are brilliant but then you have stuff like Brighton Fringe as well, it’s just such a nice place to be. I’m really looking forward to spending the week there.

Do you have any favourite songs or parts of the show?

At the end of act one we’re at the Swiss border with France, trying to convince boarder patrol that we’re entertainers. We do this big song and dance number called We Say Yeah, it’s such a laugh every night. What the team have done with the show is nothing short of genius really.

When you think about it you think it’s a nice happy show, and it is, but they’ve added this intense choreography to give it that wow factor.

So why should people in Brighton come and see this show?

It’s fun, energetic and nostalgic. You’ll walk out with a smile on your face and be humming and singing the songs for weeks after that.