“I’ve grown up with Little Shop of Horrors,” reflects Hill. “I learnt how to play music from the score. I love the music, I love Frank Oz’s film from 1986. This role has been on my top list. Little Shop of Horrors is a Faustian tale. This plant says to Seymour, ‘I can give you everything you want, just supply me with fresh blood’. Seymour ends up in a co-dependency relationship with the plant. That’s the pact with the devil. There are morality issues here – what are you willing to do to get what you want? And then once you do cross a line, are you still deserving of what you want? The stakes are great: love and power.”
There are life lessons inherent in the story that apply to everyone, including Hill. “There’s an aspect of me in the character of Seymour,” he says. “Although his circumstances are entirely different from mine. He’s like an everyman character – he’s downtrodden, he’s hard on himself. These two characters are like those people who could be great but they hold themselves back. You have to believe in what you are capable of. It’s easy to be down on yourself. We want to avoid pain and fear; we do that a lot. It can lead to depression. A huge part of our lives is accepting this. You have to face your demons.
“Everyone can relate to the story,” continues Hill. “Seymour and Audrey love each other but they don’t allow themselves to be together. Theatre can remind us of those lessons you have to go through in life. We can come out of a show hoping we can push through those times and learn from them. Little Shop of Horrors is directly about that. It’s a dark morality tale, but also playful in an enjoyable and upbeat way. It’s original and fantastical. That is what attractedmyself and Esther to the piece. We have similar tastes in this.”
With such a well-known story, the musical adaption of Little Shop of Horrors takes some leeway to speak with its own voice and to make its own mark. Albeit, the heart of the production still beats with what made the tale so enrapturing in the first place.
“It is unique in that it pays homage to the film but it’s very different from Frank Oz’s version,” says Hill. “I do the voice of Audrey II as well. It’s a kind of theatrical ventriloquism. This adds an interesting understanding of Seymour’s psychology. In my mind, Seymour is a pure innocent soul who gets taken advantage of by Audrey II. Are they two different characters? It’s open to interpretation. We leave it up to the audience to decide.”
Clearly, Hill is a man with an innate and deep connection to musical theatre and the performing arts. Now, he brings this mindset to Little Shop of Horrors. “I realized that musicals can be instantly universal,” he says. “They can elevate you – take you somewhere dialogue alone can’t take you.”
By Liza Dezfouli
