WEBF Panto Profile: Writer, director and actor ANDREW POLLARD
With pantomimes running all around the country at this time, there are a lot of great performers out there, helping newcomers get to grips with this deceptively tricky genre. Besties, we’ve been talking to some of the most experienced panto performers and writers in the UK, and we started with panto dame Andrew Pollard, appearing at the Victoria Theatre Halifax this year.
Andrew writes pantos as well as appearing in them - the Kings Head Theatre’s Jack and the Beanstalk is written by him - and when asked whether he prefers to appear in pantos he has written himself, he sid: “I do like that as I can write to my style. However, currently I work for Imagine pantos, and the fabulous Eric Potts writes the script for the panto I currently appear in. That’s fine by me, because I worked with Eric in panto at Oldham Coliseum and we have the same humour and panto sensibilities.”
Panto writers need to make sure that the show is not too long, and Andrew is clear about that. “Well, I know the ideal length I like but sometimes it’s hard to keep to it! For me, if the first half is around 50 minutes - certainly no longer than an hour - and the second half is 45 mins, that’s good. In terms of components - it’s obviously a mix of strong storyline, verbal comedy and slapstick comedy, a sprinkling of topical gags and a mix of new songs and some old favourites. I always try to put some slapstick about halfway through each act.”
We wondered if audience reaction is different in Halifax; Andrew was, for many years, resident Dame at Greenwich Theatre in London. “They are different in Halifax in that they are more ready to laugh and laugh heartily! I found sometimes with the Greenwich audiences - especially if it was a big crowd from Blackheath - they loved it but weren’t as vocal.” He’s written many of the more popular panto stories but also brought back others - Queen of Hearts at Greenwich for example, and we wondered if there are any more he would like to reclaim. “I suppose I’ve always wanted to do Humpty Dumpty - as it was the first panto I ever saw. I know Newcastle did it fairly recently but the nursery rhyme inspired pantos rarely get done now. And, of course, before I hang up my boobs, I’d love to play Mother Goose, as I’m approaching the right age!”
As with so many panto performers, Andrew’s first experience was in amateur shows. “My grandma, grandad and mum appeared in church pantos - and although I never saw them, I was obsessed with looking at the black and white photos of them performing. Then I got taken to the pantos of the local amateur dramatic society in Mossley. They had some very good comic actors - who, to me, were like stars. Later, I was thrilled to be onstage with them when I joined the society.” We asked him about the professional pantos he remembers seeing. “I remember Ken Dodd, Les Dawson and Norman Wisdom (who, at around 67, was still grabbing onto the song sheet as it flew high into the flies!). One particular thrill was seeing Eartha Kitt play Spirit of the Ring in Aladdin at Manchester Palace theatre and also seeing Roy Rolland, who had been Old Mother Riley’s understudy, do his version of that character - and he was almost indistinguishable from the original.”
Finally, we asked him what makes him keep coming back to this exhausting but uniquely British phenomenon. “I just love doing the comedy. As a jobbing actor during the rest of the year, I mainly get cast in fairly straight roles these days, so it’s a joy to let loose at Christmas. A particular thrill at Halifax is getting to do big proper messy slapstick scenes which we didn’t really do at Greenwich as we didn’t have the manpower to clean it up!” And what does he not look forward to? “I suppose the thing I don’t enjoy so much is putting on the make up at 10am in the morning! But as the years go by, I seem to use less and less as my own wrinkles begin to show!”