New Theatre Royal press day for Aladdin

The News, Portsmouth

New Theatre Royal press day for Aladdin on Monday 2nd October 2023

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - So when I graduated from drama school,

00:20 I played Snow White in "Leamington's Bar".

00:22 And then last year I was with Jordan Productions again,

00:24 but I was in "Potter's Bar" playing Dick Whittington.

00:28 - Ah, so you, well, it's quite nice.

00:30 Jordan is one of the few companies

00:31 that still seems to have the principal boy, isn't it?

00:34 - Yeah, I love it, yeah.

00:35 It's really good fun to play

00:36 'cause it allows you to do the fun stuff as well,

00:39 like the ghost gags and things like that,

00:41 that the traditional princess might not normally do.

00:46 So it's fun to be able to get a grittier side

00:48 to Panto playing the principal male.

00:50 - Yeah, and you did that sort of similar role last year

00:54 as Dick Whittington.

00:55 - Yeah, definitely.

00:56 - How was that?

00:56 - I loved it, it's so much fun.

00:58 Dick Whittington was a very large part

01:00 and a very slingy part, so I had a lot of songs to sing,

01:02 and it took it out of me, but it was definitely rewarding.

01:05 It's also nice to see how the audience warm

01:08 to a different kind of character.

01:10 Yeah, it's great.

01:12 I enjoy being able to do a show with an audience.

01:17 So rather than the audience sitting and watching a show,

01:21 it's them getting involved in the show.

01:24 And they often have such an impact on us

01:26 as performers as well,

01:27 how the audience are per show affects our show.

01:30 And that's what keeps it enjoyable,

01:32 and that's what makes it not stale,

01:34 is we don't know what's gonna happen

01:36 because we don't know how the audience is gonna react.

01:38 - Yeah, Keisha has already warned us

01:40 that she is quite prone to corpsing.

01:43 - Oh, is she?

01:44 - Apparently so.

01:45 - Shouldn't have told me that.

01:47 - How are you on that front?

01:49 - I'm all right, I think 'cause I've done

01:50 four Pantos now, this one.

01:52 I should be okay, but if anything out of the blue

01:55 does happen.

01:56 - Famous last words.

01:57 - Yeah, I know, I shouldn't have said that.

02:00 - I was here two years ago,

02:02 but it's gonna be a very different feel

02:04 because obviously we would battle in COVID at the time.

02:09 So hopefully there will be some pub trips

02:14 after the shows this time.

02:16 But it was a very different feel.

02:19 I'm looking forward to having kind of full show,

02:22 full audience and no restrictions.

02:25 - Well, that aside, I'm hoping that you had

02:28 a good experience here last night.

02:30 - I absolutely loved it.

02:31 It's a beautiful building.

02:32 The team are amazing and it's so nice to come back

02:35 to the same places.

02:36 I love it when a theatre values their staff

02:41 and you come back time and time again,

02:43 it's the same people.

02:44 And you just, you get to work on those connections

02:48 and it's great.

02:49 - Yeah.

02:51 - What is it that you particularly enjoy

02:52 about doing panto though?

02:54 - I think the atmosphere of the shows is so different

03:02 to any other live performances really.

03:05 It's so niche, but like so fun.

03:07 And I think it really gets you into the festive spirit

03:10 if you're not already by December.

03:13 - Yeah, I think it's just, it's fun.

03:16 It's the overriding word for the whole thing.

03:19 It always reminds me why I got into acting

03:22 because it was just fun to do.

03:24 And you just get to, it's really enjoyable

03:28 making people laugh and making kids laugh

03:30 and the feedback that you get from an audience

03:32 doing panto is like nothing else.

03:34 So it just gives you energy, it's great.

03:36 (silence)

03:38 (silence)

03:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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