Teenager’s wicked role on West End

A YOUNG performer from Caversham has starred in a West End musical in London.

Samantha Henney, 15, took part in Wicked the Musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London.

The actor, singer and dancer was one of three performers from Gillotts School in Henley to take part in the performance.

She was part of the 10 minute scene where the audience finds out the truth about how characters Glinda and Elphaba had become friends and how their friendship had been destroyed as they grew up.

This is the third time she has been selected to perform in the West End from Stagecoach Performing Arts School. Last year, she performed in Assemble, at His Majesty’s Theatre in London, which is based on how superheroes come into their power and how they decide to use it for good or evil.

In 2023, she performed in ABBA MegaMix at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, which followed the journey from childhood to adulthood. She said the picking process for the performance is competitive.

She said: “There will be a certain number of schools that will get invited to the West End. This year, it was at Shaftesbury Theatre and last year it was His Majesty’s, but they’re very selective.

“They will email out and be like ‘Who wants to take part in this?’ and then the final decider is how good people are and whether or not they’ll be able to carry through with it. They make it sound not competitive, but really it is.

“They’ll watch us throughout the day doing dancing and drama, unpicking us to work out if we’d be able to handle it.

“At our winter and summer performances, they’ll be monitoring us backstage and on stage. They look at the energy we give off, if we’re supportive of others, whether we show the emotion that they need and whether or not we fit the part.”

Samantha said that the consistent monitoring did not make her nervous. She said: “For me personally, it drives me to do better and try to do better than the others.

“I think I started off more excited but then, as it got closer to the day, the nerves sank in and I was like ‘Oh, wait, I’m actually doing this’.”

She said being a part of the performing arts school has become part of her identity. Samantha said: “For three years, I originally didn’t really have much interest in performing arts, but my mum brought it up and was like ‘Oh, Stagecoach is offering this, do you want to take part?’ and I was like ‘Yeah sure, why not, let’s give it a go’, so it kind of just got stuck with me and it’s become a part of who I am.”

She added that performing with Stagecoach Performing Arts School has created a good community of talented people. Samantha said: “It’s such a great environment with such great people, and there’s so much talent radiating off of people.

“Most of the people who go aren’t normally people who’d mix together. At my Stagecoach in particular, we’re all part of separate groups, but I think doing it all together gives us a new bond that if you mess up, it’s completely fine, we’re still going to support you through it.

“It was the sense of community that it created and realising that there is something in the wider world that I can do. It’s something I enjoy and if it’s something I manage to continue on with, then I reckon it could hopefully lead to a good career.”

Samantha said she does not have a set career plan yet, but I would like to pursue something in performing arts. She said: “I don’t really have a set plan, but I know I want to have something to do with performing arts, whether that’s teaching it or performing or even getting a part in a movie or TV series.

“But dance has been something I’ve enjoyed doing for quite a while, even before Stagecoach. I have a little speaker in my room, and I’ll play music and just come up with new choreography. It’s just a thing that calms me and makes my brain think.”

Michelle Henney, Samantha’s mother, said: “We ’re exceptionally proud of Samantha, this is a fantastic opportunity provided by Stagecoach. We’ve seen her become more confident and self-assured, which has benefited her both inside and outside of school.”