Half-term fun with Groan Ups on the Eastbourne stage

All of them are delighted to be back on stage – and delighted too that so far, the tour has been uninterrupted by Covid. Groan Ups is a comedy all about growing up. Following an unruly classroom of children as they journey through anarchic teenage life, through to adulthood, this comedy asks the real questions – do we choose who we become? Is the story of our lives already written? Do we ever really grow up? Yolanda Ovide, who plays Moon, said: “The show follows the lives of five children from the start and in each act they grow a little bit more. At the beginning they are around seven and then they are teenagers and then in the last act you see them come back for their ten-year reunion. “It’s great. You get to play like three characters really and you see the way that they change and also the way that they grow up or the way that they don’t grow up. “We did a lot of research. We have got a great director and she really emphasised the need to do the research. We looked at a lot of shows like The Secret Life of 4, 5 and 6 Year Olds. What was really brilliant was that you get to see them in their natural habitat, just talking and walking around. You get to see what they are really like and you can see the confidence especially in my character. There is confidence in whatever you say. Children say exactly what they feel and no hesitation. They say what they mean when they mean it” But there is also the discovery of lying: “The children see adults telling little white lies and the children start trying. You can see the children thinking maybe I can tell a little white lie just to see if people believe it, and it is interesting that the ones that do lie are the ones that grow up a lot quicker than the ones that don’t lie. “As teenagers obviously it’s completely different again. There was a really great documentary that we looked at about schools in different parts of the country and again you can see them as they really are. You see them talking and just being with each other in the classroom and you can recognise the characters. You’ve got the character who is going to be always making jokes and a bit of a problem for the teacher and you’ve also got the really studious character as well. I think in real life I was the chatty one in the background so I guess I have been well cast! “And then you see them again as adults at the ten-year reunion and it’s quite interesting to see how they slip back into their teenage selves. You go back to the environment where you were at school and you see your old friends and you find yourself slipping back into the role that you were assigned back then.” It has been a great tour so far: “Luckily enough we have had a great run and we have not been interrupted at all. We opened near the beginning of August and we managed to get all the way through so far. We had a little bit of a break over Christmas and then it was lovely to get back to the tour. “And it’s lovely just be back on stage. For the entire pandemic obviously I wasn’t able to work in theatre and like most actresses I was wondering what was I was supposed to be doing. I ended up working in my local Co-op just stacking shelves in Windsor. It was very nice and there were very lovely people coming in but I just really missed the stage after a while. I missed the creativity and the excitement and all that. I’ve been very lucky that since graduating I have been constantly doing acting jobs and then to have to stop was really strange. “I missed the excitement and I missed hearing the audience and I missed telling a story on stage and it’s just lovely being back.” Book at eastbournetheatres.co.uk or call 01323 412000.