Bugsy Malone: Tips from a children's casting director

Casting any production is a complicated logistical process – but consider what the process must be like for those casting a touring production set over an entire year, crossing the length and breadth of the UK. In case that wasn't enough of a challenge, add to it three rotating casts of young performers, requiring chaperones, tutoring and limited legal working hours. It's enough to make anyone's head spin.

Bugsy Malone is returning to stages around the UK for the very first time in a revival of the hit Lyric Hammersmith Theatre production from 2016. Against the backdrop of Prohibition-era New York, the musical is a gangster-style explosion of fun, with kids adopting toy guns and whipped cream rather than guns and bullets. Based on the 1976 film of the same name, Bugsy has become a mainstay of youth theatres around the world thanks to its ensemble cast of child actors.