A local man from Yate has described the 'full circle moment' after having been cast in the multi award-winning Mary Poppins production currently showing at the Bristol Hippodrome . Rhys Batten, who was born in Chipping Sodbury and grew up in Yate, originally had a passion for gymnastics growing up. This all changed, however, during his Year 8 music lesson at King Edmund Community School when his teacher told him BLOC Productions - a multi-award winning 90-year-old Bristol Musical Theatre Company - needed more children for its production of 'Oliver!' and would be holding auditions.
Rhys landed a role and after stepping onto the stage at the Bristol Hippodrome, says he fell in love with performing. He went on to join the Bristol School of Performing Arts and Bristol Musical Youth Productions, which performed twice a year at the Redgrave Theatre. He also performed again with BLOC Productions in Beauty and the Beast in 2010.
Sign up to receive our What's On in Bristol newsletter for all the latest on things to do and places to eat Rhys says: "I fell in love with performing at the Bristol Hippodrome as a child which was the first stage I ever performed on. Now I am back performing on that very stage as a professional actor for the first time ever as part of the ensemble for the multi award-winning musical, Mary Poppins . It's a real full circle moment for me.
" Rhys was cast in Mary Poppins after going through six rounds of auditions. As part of the ensemble, he takes on numerous r.
