AN 11-YEAR-OLD boy from Great Ayton is waiting to hear whether his audition for the part of Oliver in the West End production of the musical has been successful.

Yazdan Qafouri, a pupil at Roseberry Community School, travelled to London last week and spent a day singing and dancing before a West End producer, progressing from the first audition to a recall for only 13 boys.

“First of all, we all had to sing a song,” he said.

“I sang Where is Love? from the musical, and then we were given a script to read as well as being taught some dance steps.

“I was very nervous but it was exciting as well.

I’m waiting to hear whether I’ve got the part, but I think it went very well.”

It has been an exciting time for Yazdan. Only last month he won first prize in the Boro’s Got Talent competition at the Riverside, representing his school and scoring 37 marks out of a possible 40 with a spirited rendition of Michael Jackson’s song Ben.

“It was great fun,” said Yazdan, who has had something of a whirlwind year since coming first in the BBC poetry recital competition last summer, where he was presented with the prize by Jeremy Paxman.

“I also took part in the Britain’s Got Talent competition and I got though to the stage just before the live shows. Even Simon Cowell said some nice things about me.”

Yazdan, who has also starred in a football commercial for Korean television, last autumn won the Ethnic Minority Award for 2009 at a ceremony at the Tall Trees in Yarm. He is currently at Roseberry School but has won a scholarship to Yarm Grammar in September.

He spends a lot of time practising before any audition and his ambition is to be the best singer and actor he can possibly be.