Homecoming for actor in Hippodrome's Mary Poppins

A musical theatre actor has made his hometown debut as a professional, returning to the stage he once performed on as a child.

Rhys Batten, 30, grew up in Yate, and is currently on stage in the production of Mary Poppins at Bristol's Hippodrome theatre.

"I spent two years in Sixth Form at Cotham School just up the hill from the Hippodrome, so it brings back a lot of memories," he said.

Mr Batten went through a gruelling six-stage audition process which lasted about six weeks to land his role.

"A lot of people don't understand that when we go for jobs, we turn up on day one and we don't know what the routines are," he said.

"We have to pick it up there and then and perform it on the spot, it's such an intense process."

Mr Batten did a dance audition, a tap dance routine, a singing audition, a second dance round, a pre-final where he did the material again around eight times, and then the final.

"There were nine or 10 of us left by that stage, and at that point we didn't know how many people they were looking for," he added.

"Half an hour after the final my agent called and said I got the job."

Before Mary Poppins, Mr Batten had only been on the Hippodrome stage as a child.

He appeared in the ensemble cast for Oliver, and Beauty and the Beast.

After leaving sixth form, he won a scholarship at the Urdang Academy in London.

Since then, he has been on stage for the international tour of Cats, Spongebob Squarepants The Musical, Cabaret and Elf The Musical in the West End last year.

But he said his return to Bristol has been especially emotional.

"My first tap teacher came to watch me earlier this week," he said.

"They were really proud of seeing me on stage, and all my family are going too, which will be really special."

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