Horsham celebrates lockdown emergence with A Night at The Musicals

“I think it is fantastic that we are hoping to do this,” says Oliver, who has a string of stage credits to his name, but is perhaps best known for playing the role of Galileo in the West End hit We Will Rock You and Fiyero in the West End production of Wicked.

“You have just got to try to stay positive.

“Everybody knows that realistically we can’t be 100 per cent certain that this is going to go ahead, but positivity is definitely the way to go. It’s the best way to proceed. The only way to proceed.”

Inevitably, this has been a quiet year for Oliver.

“It has been a chance to have time with my family, with my kids. We did a lot of home-schooling at first and then after that there were little chunks where I have done gardening and chopping down trees and decorating, but then you start thinking ‘I don’t have the money to do this anymore.’

“We were lucky enough to have some savings and a little bit of support, but nobody has a rainy year fund. We had to be careful about budgeting, but I am lucky that I get quite a lot of gigs in the private sector. Or did. But in September and October I got a few gigs, and I had a few more in November and December.

“Obviously the November ones have now been wiped out.

“But you have got to find a way. That’s all we can do. I have adapted. I am far more patient now than I would have been.

“If I were out of work in a normal climate, I would have been hungry to be auditioning and to get back on the stage but this time, you have just got to be patient. There is nothing else you can do.”

Second lockdown will be different: “This time we don’t have the weather. The first one we were lucky enough to be able to sit in the garden and watch the children running around, and just seeing the sunshine was better for the soul and spirit.

“This time round I will just have to be setting myself different challenges, just to continue to improve on my mindfulness and my fitness and my jobs that I had put to one side.

“And I think it would be naïve not to take this opportunity to think what I do for work to support my family if this carries on much longer. I have not yet solved that one, but I am starting to have a few plans.

“That’s not to say that I 100 per cent agree with what the government was saying about retraining.

“The world needs entertainment, and that’s what I want to be doing, but I do think you have got to start to think about having a plan B.”

As for the concert, it will be his favourite songs with a festive twist – though quite what the setlist will be is something Oliver still needs to work out. As he says, he has got to make sure he is offering something that is appropriate to the times we are going through… assuming, of course, that we get out of lockdown in time.

As he says, he will be looking to offer something that is nostalgic and uplifting.

“Coming out of lockdown, fingers crossed, if we do get to go ahead, I am not sure it would be right to have too many angsty songs from musical theatre or too many pop medleys.

“They wouldn’t be maybe the best choices. But at the same time you wouldn’t want to be dwelling on the current situation. My belief is that that is not why people go to the theatre!

“But I am just really looking forward to being in front of a live audience.

“One of the things I love about being in front of a live audience is the chatting with them, the rapport.”

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