A BASINGSTOKE performer has been delighting audiences on stage in a musical after landing a lead part in the touring production of Cats.

Shiv Rabheru plays Mr Mistoffelees in the Andrew Lloyd Webber show, which arrived at Southampton’s The Mayflower last week.

The 24-year-old, who attended Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College and Queen Mary’s College, began his performing career in Basingstoke when he took part in shows with Basingstoke Amateur Theatrical Society (BATS) and the Basingstoke Gang Show.

He then went on to join M&M Academy of Arts, in Basingstoke, before training with Bird College, in London.

“After that I got an agent and started auditioning. I have done pantos and cruise ships but Cats is my first big role,” said Shiv. 

The dancer joined the cast of Cats last year when it began its European and UK tour, and has performed in various countries including Italy and Switzerland.

But he said it was great to return to England and perform at a theatre so close to his home town. “Lots of people have come to watch me,” he said.

Shiv, from Old Hatch Warren, performs a demanding routine on stage during the musical, and said: “It’s very hard work. I have had to learn how to be really disciplined. You do get time to relax in the day but sometimes you have to do rehearsals in the day. You learn you have to rest in the day because it’s so exhausting.”

Shiv, whose sister Ashna Rabheru is also enjoying a successful acting career after playing a main character in the Channel 4 drama Indian Summers, will finish his tour with Cats in November in Budapest, and already has another acting role lined up.

The performer will play Callum in a new musical called Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, written by Dan Gillespie Sells, the lead singer of The Feeling.

The show is being staged at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, and Shiv said: “It’s a pop musical and I will be doing mostly singing. It will be nice to do something completely different. In Cats because it’s been around for so many years they know exactly how they want it. But with this role I will be creating it.”

You can watch Shiv in Cats at The Mayflower until this Saturday.

Tickets are on sale from Mayflower Theatre Box Office on 023 8071 1811 or online at mayflower.org.uk.

  • Find out what we thought of Cats by reading our review here.