MARION SAUVEBOIS meets Sam Wearing, who has overcome adversity to live his dream

“YOU couldn’t make it up,” quips Sam Wearing, with an exaggerated roll of the eyes, before adding playfully: “My life could be turned into a film.”

From his acceptance at the eleventh hour to one of the most prestigious acting schools in the country to the loss of his mother, via the string of knock-backs and knee injury which nearly crushed his West End dreams – his bewildering saga of victory over adversity would not be out of place in the most far-fetched of melodramas or rags-to-riches biopic.

With distance, and his happy ending just a few short weeks away at last, he can now look back on the past five years with a tinge of humour. As a performer with a penchant for the dramatic, the irony doesn't escape him.

While the movie adaption is a long way off yet, Sam, who will soon start training at Laine Performing Arts Centre, is preparing to share his unbelievable journey through song at his first solo concert at the Arts Centre next month.

“All the knock-backs I’ve had have given me the determination to get somewhere,” shrugs the 22-year-old from Cheney Manor. “I never had any doubts I wanted to perform but it’s so easy in the industry to give up. Everything before was the dress rehearsal – it’s really on now.”

Even knee-high to a grasshopper, Sam’s theatrical streak was clear for anyone to see. He never missed a chance to put on little improvised shows, turning his bedroom into a makeshift playhouse, with a shower curtain in lieu of the real thing. Sam even went as far as charging his indulgent parents for the privilege of watching him.

“I used to make them sit on the top bunk pretending they had balcony seats’,” he recalls chuckling. “I was quite full on. It would have been easy for my parents to say no that’s enough but they were very supportive.”

Before long, they enrolled him at Tanwood.

Just like his bedroom, he treated school as his own private stage, persuading teachers to let him stage impromptu concerts during assembly and, on one occasion, wear his “Pop Idol mic” headset in a low-key production of Mary Poppins.

Things accelerated when he won a talent contest at Commonweal School at the age of 16. A friend suggested he audition for The Brit School, whose famous alumnae include Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Jessie J.

He ended up on the reserve list. Against all odds, two weeks before the start of the academic year, he was offered a place in the musical theatre programme.

Midway through his first year though, his mother Patsy was diagnosed with cancer. Four months later she passed away. Overwhelmed with grief, Sam took to filming himself singing and uploaded the videos to YouTube as a distraction. Not once did he contemplate dropping out – his mother would never have stood for it.

Resolved to make her proud, after graduating with a triple distinction, he auditioned at some of the capital’s most sought-after performing arts programmes. He secured a place at The Musical Theatre Academy but, unable to scrape together the £23,000 annual fees, had to turn it down.

He received three more offers from other colleges over the next three years but each time had to decline unable to pay their astronomical fees. Until, fortune smiled on him at last and he was offered a full ride at London College of Music in 2014.

“The situation with mum filled me with determination,” he says resolutely. “That’s what kept me going for three years. I just had this belief I would get there in the end.”

But disaster struck again ten weeks into the course when he displaced cartilage around his knee rolling over in his sleep. He was forced to drop out.

“My leg was locked, I had to get surgery,” he sighs. “I had finally got somewhere. I had waited three years to be able to do what I loved and I just thought, ‘For God’s sake, what did I do to deserve this?’”

To fill the hours stretching in front of him each day, he busied himself with his YouTube channel, recording short videos of himself singing lyrical melodies reflecting his mood. John Barrowman retweeted one of his clips and he has since notched up half a million views.

Finally on the mend, he immediately sent out a fresh round of applications.

But for all his grit, auditions were an unmitigated disaster.

Deflated after five failed try-outs, he headed to Laine’s in Epsom for his sixth and final audition at the end of last year. Despite insisting “he was by far the worst dancer there”, he was offered a place. But money still stood in the way of his happy ending. In April, he returned to the arts college for one last call-out in the hope of being awarded a scholarship. He set off for Surrey his bag filled with a wad of rejection letters.

“This was the biggest day of my life,” he says. “Rejection is the best source of determination. I kept thinking, ‘This was my chance. This could be it’.

“I sang ‘Why God Why?’ from Miss Saigon and there was an eerie silence when I finished. The director, Miss Laine, had her head down. Then she said my mum would be so proud of me and everyone in the room started crying. She offered me a three-year scholarship. It took me five years to get there; but I did.”

An Evening with Sam Wearing on September 3 will be a fitting send off for the ambitious performer as he embarks on the next phase of a promising career at Laine’s later that month. The intimate show will feature songs close to his heart, many of which comforted him through the relentless setbacks of the past five years.

“It’s very personal for me. There will be a section dedicated to my mum; she really believed in me and supported me. It will come straight from the heart.”

Sam will perform at the Arts Centre on September 3 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £10. To book visit swindontheatres.co.uk or call 01793 524 481.