Julia Worsley's fourth pantomine at the Kings in Southsea

SussexWorld

Julia Worsley is looking forward to her fourth pantomine at the Kings in Southsea, but importantly one in which she will be breaking new ground professionally...

Transcript

00:00 I can see that you do very well.

00:02 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Art Editor at Sussex Newspapers.

00:06 Lovely to be speaking to Julia, who is going to be in this year's Panto at the King's Theatre in Southsea,

00:13 Hook, The Further Adventures of Peter Pan.

00:15 But Julia, not only will you be on stage, you are breaking out into working behind the scenes.

00:22 I know, I know. I'm actually so excited.

00:26 I've been very fortunate to be asked to Assistant Director this year.

00:30 It's long been a desire of mine to do a little bit of the other side.

00:37 Why is it something you wanted to do?

00:39 Because I find it really fascinating.

00:41 Whenever we do shows or whenever I'm in a show, I really like sitting in the auditorium when I'm not needed on stage

00:47 and just seeing what happens because so much goes on.

00:50 It's so technical. And I'm really fascinated by all of that.

00:55 So I've always wanted to do it.

00:57 I've always been a little bit nervous because I think, you know, everybody wants to be a director.

01:01 But they came to me this year and said, look, would you like to have a go at doing Assistant Director?

01:06 I didn't even think about it. I just said yes, absolutely. Please. Yes, I'm happy to do that.

01:11 You've never done it before?

01:13 No, I've never done it before, ever. I've not even, I don't think I've even sat in on an audition.

01:19 Oh, I have sat in on auditions. That's not strictly true.

01:22 But yeah, this is, I'm an absolute novice. So it's a massive learning curve for me.

01:27 It's going to be properly learning on the job then.

01:29 It really is. And it does not get more technical and more crazy than the two week rehearsal of Pantomime.

01:37 There is so much, so much. So it's a baptism of fire.

01:41 I think you'll find the term is definite baptism of fire.

01:44 Goodness, well good luck with that. So you'll be slightly less on stage then?

01:49 I will this year. Yeah, I mean, I still have two lovely parts.

01:53 I get to sing two really nice little songs. So I'm still able to flex my acting and singing muscles,

01:59 which I'm very happy about. And I'm doing a little bit of comedy this year, which I do like.

02:04 I think the baddies, one of the funniest people in the Pantomime.

02:07 But this year I'm a funny mermaid. And I don't know if you noticed, but I'm a girl.

02:13 But I'm playing one of the mermaids and she is very funny.

02:17 And so at least I get the comedy still. Yeah.

02:20 Well, you look fantastic and everyone is looking fantastic. Clearly the costumes are going to be great.

02:25 But then that's always part of the cost of the Panto, the Kings, isn't it?

02:29 It absolutely is. It's funny because we've had because we've got a big launch day today.

02:34 We've got our wardrobe department here and then taking measurements and then talking about this, talking about that.

02:39 I get so excited by it because the costumes are always really extravagant and they're just amazing.

02:45 You know, I've done Les Mis and you're literally in rags with mud on your face.

02:48 So this is our magazine. And in Panto, those costumes give you licence to go over the top, don't they?

02:56 They absolutely do. I mean, last year I did the Wicked Stepsister and their costumes were off the scale hilarious.

03:03 And you do, you, it gives you a real confidence on stage when you get a great costume.

03:08 It's half the job's done for you. The costume is as much the part of the actor as the lines and the direction and the singing and all of that.

03:17 Costumes, excellent.

03:19 Fantastic. Well, as ever, really looking forward to seeing the Kings Panto this year.

03:23 Lovely to speak to you again, Julie.

03:24 Thank you so much, Phil.

03:26 Good luck with that behind the scenes debut.

03:29 Thank you very much. Thank you.

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