Oral History: Carl Sanderson

Well, my name’s Carl Sanderson. I’m an actor and a musical theatre performer, and was previously a member of the National Youth Theatre about 100 years ago. A lot of people have gone on to do amazing things, and, you know, the people that have gone into the business, there are a lot of just hardworking, jobbing actors, which I consider myself as one, you know. Um, and we’ve all made, you know, through the NYT’s influence and also through training as well, we’ve, we’ve carved out decent enough careers and been able to pay a mortgage and have a nice life, and I just think that’s amazing. That’s incredible. You know. Um, can you tell us maybe about a memory, big ask, just one, but maybe you can sneak in a few, that’s really stayed with you from your time- Yeah being a member at NYT? Yeah. It’s not actually a production. Um, the NYT used to do… I don’t know if they still do. They probably still do, and then, you know, it’s… I’ve not been a member for 35 years, but, uh, they used to, big, um, fundraising ball at, then at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. And I think I’d done, I’d done one show, which was, uh, Lionel Bart’s Maggie May at the Royalty Theatre in, I think ’92, or ’91 or ’92. And then I g- I had a phone call from Ed (Wilson) to s- asked me to sing a solo at the ball. So they always did a cabaret, so we did, we did, you know, group musical numbers, and then he asked me to sing a s- a song, a solo song, and I was completely gobsmacked and terrified ’cause it was amazing. I mean, it was full of, like, really famous people, and, you know. I’d, I’d be starstruck now, but I was certainly starstruck and terrified then. Um, and, and, um, Brian Lee, who’d been in musical theatre himself, he was in, he was, I think, in the divisional West End production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and then went on to become a designer, taught me the song he wanted to sing, and it was, um, Corner of the Sky from Pippin, which actually the NYT did a few years later, but I’d left by then. Um, and he taught me, um, Corner of the Sky from Pippin, and I sang that song at the ball on Park Lane in London. I mean, it was like… I mean, I’d been doing Gilbert and Sullivan in Batley (West Yorkshire) two years earlier, you know, and, and I was suddenly doing that, and it was amazing. It was amazing. And funnily enough, that, as, that song stuck with me, and that song got me my place at drama school as well, which was amazing. So I thank Brian for that forever and, you know, that, that was an amazing experience. And I’ve still got a letter. I got a letter from, um, I think recently passed away, Brian Forbes, who used to be, um… And his wife, Nanette Newman, Um, and I’ve got this, I’ve, I’ve got a wonderful letter from them saying how much they enjoyed my performance and things, and I’ve still got it. I’ve still got, I’ve still got quite a lot of stuff from NYT, but I’ve kept that letter. And that m- as, you know, as a 7, 16, 17-year-old lad, that meant a lot. You know, it was amazing. But that was an m- incredible experience, and I thank Brian and Ed for giving me that opportunity. And then I went on to do, you know, sing at other stuff as well. Actually, the f- I think the f- what was it? When, when would the 40th anniversary be? So in- So ’96, would it? Yes, that would be right. Yeah. Yeah. ‘Cause I, I think I sang at that as well. I’ve got, I’ve got a video of it somewhere, but obviously can’t play videos anymore, but yeah, we did that. But so as well as the productions, there wa- there was always that going on during the year as well, and just the, the craic as well. I mean, it was just great. You know, we all lived in, we all lived in a, um, halls of residence in Tufnell Park, and that was great as well. I mean, we were all, it was all like we’re all young adults living in a thing with, you know, with older members kind of keeping an eye on us. And then I, and then I ended up doing that as well eventually. Um, yeah, I’ve just got a m- I’ve just got amazing memories of it, and actually, I think more amazing than my professional career y- when I think about it. The the joy, ’cause we weren’t doing it for, we weren’t doing it for money. We were just doing it for love, and it w- you know, it was just amazing. It was amazing experience from start to finish.