BELTING out chart hits to an auditorium full of thousands of people is a more welcoming prospect than speaking up in a classroom for mute singer, Nathan Carpenter.

The 16-year-old New College student has suffered with selective mutism, an anxiety disorder which inhibits a person’s speech in specific situations, since the age of three.

But Nathan has seemingly found his voice through performance with Swindon musical theatre group Stagestruck and national singing competition Open Mic UK.

The competition attracts more than 9,000 acts every year as it travels across the country in search for the UK’s best singers, rappers and vocalists.

The winner of the overall competition receives £5,000 in cash, recording studio time, singing lessons and music development classes.

And after signing up online and attending the first round on September 21, Nathan is now gearing up for the regional final in Reading at the end of this month, one step away from the national grand final.

“We had been looking for singing competitions,” said Nathan, who lives in Jefferies Avenue, Stratton.

“I took a chance to see how far I’d get.

“I don’t know what it is, but I’m a different person when I perform. I was excited more than nervous.

“It was just such a big thing because I struggle. I’m so shy with my selective mutism. In day-to-day life, I struggle.

“It’s frustrating in that annoying sort of way. It feels like you want to say something, but you can’t.

“It’s just confusing. I have seen a lot of people about it. They just say it’s something you can overcome, but they don’t know how.

“I just want to get some more confidence and learn to talk to people. I need to push myself more to talk to people.

“Music has helped a lot with it. It’s pushed me to do stuff more confidently.

“When I perform it feels like I have done it.

“I’m happy because it feels like where I belong when I am singing. It’s an exciting feeling, like you are doing something you love.”

Nathan was first spotted after recording some cover versions to disc, which were heard by a teaching assistant at his secondary school, who put him forward for an audition with Stagestruck.

His first experience of live performance soon followed with a role in Dreamboats and Sinking Ships, at Swindon Arts Centre, in May.

He is now working for the company on its Christmas pantomime production of Cinderella.

There are expected to be a little over 20 acts at the regional final in Reading on October 26, from whom three will be selected by judges and a fourth voted for by the audience on the day.

Numbers are important for Nathan on the day, and his mum, Michelle Carpenter, 51, is rounding up as many as she can to take to Sub89 in Friar Street.

Between 30 and 35 are already lined up to cheer Nathan on.