ALMOST a year after he made his professional stage bow opposite Jason Donovan, a Carterton schoolboy has started touring the nation in a new play.

St John the Evangelist Primary School pupil Cameron Duncan landed a lead role in the stage production of John Boyne’s novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

The 10-year-old was selected to play Bruno on the tour, which premiered in Chichester, West Sussex, last night.

The play tells the story of an unlikely friendship between Bruno, the son of a Nazi concentration camp commandant, and a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was made into a 2008 film starring David Thewlis.


Our top stories

 

Cameron said: “I am very proud to play the part because this story means lots to a lot of people.

“I like playing Bruno because he has quite a good imagination and he asks a lot of questions and when he does not get the answers he keeps going and never gives up. He is also a good explorer.”

He added: “I went for the audition in December and they told me I had got the part shortly after. For the past four or five weeks we have been rehearsing, but now we have got properly into doing the show.”

Cameron and two other boys will take in turns to play Bruno. He will spend one week touring with the production followed by two weeks at home as part of a rota that will last until the final performance on June 27.

His big stage debut last year saw him play Benji in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, at the New Theatre in Oxford opposite Jason Donovan, who played his father.

The schoolboy also made it to the last eight for auditions to be in the West End production of Les Miserables after he was put forward by West Oxfordshire Academy of Performing Arts.

The drama school also encouraged him to audition for the role of Bruno. Cameron, who has been acting for four years, said: “The most challenging thing is learning so many lines. I would love to do acting when I grow up.

“I would love to do musicals because it is good to be on stage and show people what you do. I would like to be in dramas on TV as well.”

Cameron lives with mum Lisa, dad Andrew and sisters Georgia, 17, and Courtney, 13.

Mrs Duncan said: “I am very, very proud. Cameron loves to perform and this play means so much to people who had experiences of what went on in the Holocaust.”

The play will be performed at the Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe, from April 21-25.