07 Aug 2025
It’s probably fair to say that theatre guru David Jenkins is something of a wizard himself – and not just because of the Brilliant things that he does – but because he has created a St Albans institution.
For the past 10 years, his company Brilliant Theatre Academy of Performing Arts has shaped the talents of local young performers ready to take to the stage of the Alban Arena.
With shows ranging from We Will Rock You and Beauty and the Beast to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Grease, through to this year’s The Wizard of Oz, these are professional productions which are arguably worthy of the West End.
In just 12 days, David and his dedicated team of around 30 creatives bring together a troupe of disparate youngsters aged from seven to 21, and turn them into a cohesive company ready for four stand-out performances.
With just days to go before the curtain rises and Dorothy Gale finds herself transported over the rainbow, the excitement backstage at the Arena is almost palpable, as 91 enthusiastic youngsters take part in rehearsals across the venue.
David spins around the theatre like a Kansas whirlwind, dipping in and out of sequences and peppering the cast with advice based on his observations.
In one section, teenagers perform The Merry Old Land of Oz, elsewhere the youngest actors belt out Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead, and in yet another corner we find the two teams of principals – Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and so on – working on the poppyfield sleeping scene.
“We’re in a really lovely position at the minute,” he enthuses, “it’s the second week of our two-week rehearsal process.
“They’ve now got to finish learning everything and then piece it all together.”
The entire production process actually started last October, when they first advertised the show ahead of open auditions in March.
“There’s no experience necessary, but of course the bigger the role, the more things we need to ask. But they flood in through the doors, and we watch everybody throughout the day at different times to work out who has the skill sets for which role. All we ask is that people want to perform and have a passion for it.”
So were they on the lookout for a Judy Garland wannabe? “We’re keeping it very close to the movie apart from Dorothy’s performance. Judy did a very good job but she came across as a bit lost and very ‘oh golly!’, whereas we wanted Dorothy to have more of a stronger mind, to be a bit braver and not need as much help.
“She wants to go on the journey, you know?”
Diehard fans can rest assured that the script has not been changed, just the performances, something which is also reflected in the role of the Wizard: “We wanted the wizard to be gender neutral and kind of unknown, so we played with that a little bit.”
Making the role her own is 17-year-old Grace, who has been performing with Brilliant Theatre since 2018, including playing Ray in last year’s Jamie.
She explains why she keeps coming back: “It’s because I love it! It’s the people and the production scale and quality. I wouldn’t be in the shows if they were rubbish!”
David actually made his stage debut as a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz, so the show means a lot to him personally: “The film is a big warm hug, and I wanted to bring that same heart and same feel to our production. It’s reflected in the design as well, which I’m very proud of as it’s very filmic, with no sets or cloths. It’s all LED screens with video and moving imagery. So it starts off in black and white with the costumes all in sepia, and when Dorothy lands in Oz the whole thing just explodes with colour.
“We work so hard as a team to make sure everybody has a moment. It’s not just a case of having young people walk on, stand around and walk off, because that’s not fair on them or their parents. For example we’ve done character development with the young ones, so they each have their own story arc. They all work on key skills, teamwork, confidence building and all the cool stuff, but underlying that we also wanted to make sure they get the best out of the experience, but so too does the audience.
“There are many amazing kids’ shows at various levels, but whatever we put on has to be good enough to be here at the Alban Arena, regardless of the performers. When people watch a show here, they don’t care about whose producing it, they’re coming to watch a show and they want to be entertained.
“If you’ve got a company producing shows that are less than adequate, that will reflect back on the Arena, but with every show we’ve done for the last 10 years the feedback has been amazing. People keep coming back, even when they no longer have children in the shows, and in fact one young lady who was in one of our first productions is bringing her own kids to watch the show, so that’s really lovely.”
(One of the actors playing the Cowardly Lion also has strong connections to the Arena – he’s the son of panto legend Boby Golding.)
We grab a few words with vocal coach Jo, who is there to teach the cast not only how to use their voices effectively for the entire process, but also promoting key messages on vocal hygiene.
“It’s also all about sustainability, how to add character within that and so on. It’s a really nice experience for them because a lot of the industry is not just about being able to nail it for that one day audition.”
David’s contacts within the theatre and film world have also proved useful, as his friendship with Wicked star Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba) gave him an insight into the release dates of the two-part movie, allowing him to schedule the production slap bang between each instalment.
“You know when you start thinking about a 10-year plan and realise the stars have aligned? So it’s The Wizard of Oz, right in the middle of the Wicked movie!”
He also brought in his friend Abigail Matthews, who won national acclaim for her puppetry with Toto in the tour of the show, to provide coaching for their cast member, adding an extra special element to his experience.
“We’ve been doing this for 10 years now, and we’ve got an incredible team. It’s a well-oiled machine and everybody works so hard – it’s not child care, it’s not summer camp, it’s so much more than that! Our audience comes from far and wide to watch us now, because they trust that the show is going to be quality, and we’re determined not to let them down.”
Tickets for some of this weekend’s performances are still available – find out more here.
