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Oliver! Grand Opera House, York, September 27-28, September 30 - October 4

From the Evening Press, first published Friday 26th Sep 2003.

Charles Hutchinson reports on the fluctuating financial activities of an amateur York actor cast in Oliver! as Fagin.

JOHN Haigh is no stranger to reviewing the financial situation in his daily duties with Norwich Union in York. From tonight, however, he switches to the other side of the legal divide, to play Fagin in Oliver! at the Grand Opera House until October 4. Rather than seeking to boost the finances of others, in the guise of Fagin he will be looking to strip strangers of their assets in the York Musical Theatre Company production.

"Fagin is a survivor," says John. "He uses other people's resources, and at the end when the final reprise of I'm Reviewing The Situation is very sorrowful, his crafty mind takes over again as he says he will find ways to continue."

Whereas Fagin and his pickpocket gang are facing up to a down-turn in their fortunes, John has just had some good news at work. "I've just got promoted to being the customer services technician in the claims team," he says.

John, 24, has settled in York after studying theatre at university in Scarborough. In May, he made his York Musical Theatre Company debut in the principal role of American writer Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret at York Theatre Royal. Now comes another lead, Fagin, and while John has not ruled out pursuing a professional career in theatre, he is content with his balance between work and pleasure at present.

"This way I get to perform in great theatres and have the chance to meet actors and directors, and I also have the day job too. I like having the daytime job and doing hobbies at night, going on stage, so I'm happy as it is... but if an offer came in, I would consider it... though I've just taken on a flat and a mortgage in York... but if an acting job for a year came up, I would consider it," John says, somewhat indecisively.

He then firms up his thoughts. "I'm beyond that actor thing of chasing five jobs at once and having to live in London. I'm past that, but there's a whole world of people in the industry to meet and someone might see you one day and say `You're really good'. That's all you want."

At 24, John may be considered young to be playing Fagin, not least by comparison with Ron Moody's celebrated performance in the 1968 film musical. "But I don't envisage a character's age, more his mannerisms," he says.

"At first when I found out the company was doing Oliver! I wanted to play the Artful Dodger, but I'm too old for that, so it had to be Bill Sykes or Fagin, and I really expressed an interest in Fagin as a great character part. Paul [director Paul Laidlaw] said `Well, audition like anyone else and we'll take care of the ageing with make-up'," John recalls.

"I had a look at the film, and at the character of Fagin, and I think he looks aged not because he's old but because he has lived hard, he's dirty and he's shabby. He's one of those people who, if he had plenty of money, would clean up to look much younger."

Like Fagin, John will continue reviewing the situation as he balances work and play and ambitions. "I think my dreams of million-pound Hollywood deals have gone, but you never know!" he says.