Am dram star of the week is Backstreet Theatre Company's Caroline Evans

The group, which rehearse at Bridgetown Primary School, have been in existence for eight years now and are going from strength to strength.

I chat with Caroline about her role in the company and how she became involved in am dram.

“I’ve been performing since I was five thanks to my grandma who was a member of Cannock Operatic Society,” Caroline tells me. “They needed children to appear in Carousel and I have never looked back.

“I became involved with Backstreet back in 1996. The group folded in 2000 but restarted again in 2010. From that day on, I’ve been heavily involved in performing, production and running the group.”

Backstreet is about to perform a concert entitled Sincerely Us on November 8-9 at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Caroline says: “Sincerely Us is a look back at the last eight years, reflecting on all the shows we have performed. We started with Rent, then I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, on to Songs for a New World, Jekyll and Hyde, Our House and Into the Woods.

“I personally am performing a few numbers in the concert,” says Caroline. “One of my favourites is Surabaya-Santa from Songs for a New World and I’m really looking forward to singing Your Fault from Into the Woods too.”

The group also perform new, little- known musicals, one of which is called Working which they presented in 2017. They are NODA award winners too, having won for both Jekyll and Hyde and Made in Dagenham.

In addition to musical theatre shows, they also present an annual pantomime, this year’s being Jack and the Beanstalk at Norton Canes Community Centre on December 15-16.

Caroline has a couple of dream roles of course, don’t we all?

“It would be Elphaba from Wicked or Mama Rose in Gypsy,” she says. “My favourite roles to date are Maria in The Sound of Music, Eve in Children of Eden and The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods.”

Quite a mixture of old and new.

We touched on the rising cost of amateur theatre, which I know is a massive concern for many groups.

Caroline says: “We live on a show by show basis. We do it because we love it, certainly not for the money.”

It’s all worth it!

l For tickets for Backstreet Theatre Company’s Sincerely Us call 07970 968160or 01543 578762. They are £15.