A Moray youngster will take a starring role at venues across the UK in a musical about Scotland’s national bard.
14-year-old Elijah Aspinall, from Lossiemouth, has been finessing his performance as a young version of the poet since Robert Burns The Musical began to take shape two years ago in his hometown.
The show was originally devised by Michael Jackson and David Gest, but was brought to life by Moray’s Rock Academy theatre school.
Producers yesterday revealed they had arranged a national tour for the production.
Details for the show, which will begin in early 2017, are yet to be announced, but it is expected it will be staged the length and breadth of the UK.
Elijah has an important role, dominating its opening scenes as the schoolboy poet and regularly returning in later acts to question and challenge his older self.
Although Elijah’s mum, Dianne Aspinall, is the director of the show the teenager had to audition for the part alongside many other budding stage hopefuls.
And after securing the role, he had to prove his worth by rehearsing his lines in front of Mr Gest, when he visited Lossiemouth two years ago to see how the production was shaping up.
Elijah said: “I had just turned 13 when I had to perform in front of Mr Gest and that was quite scary.”
The youngster has subsequently played the pivotal part in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Kilmarnock and Aviemore since the show premiered 18 months ago.
But Elijah said his fondest memory was when the musical was performed in front of a large audience in Elgin last month and gained rapturous applause.
The Lossiemouth High School pupil added: “That was our biggest show, and the atmosphere was brilliant.
“Hopefully we can have more shows like that when we go on tour, and I’m really excited about the experience.”
Ms Aspinall said that her son “had really grown” since becoming involved with the show.
She added: “It’s like he comes to life when he’s on the stage”.
Details of the tour are expected to be announced in the coming months. A representative for Tish Tindall, the show’s writer and on-stage narrator, said Robert Burns The Musical had become an “attractive commodity”.
