PANTO 2009-10 as DAME

Panto: 2009-10

 KENNETH MORE THEATRE

17^th December 2009- 23^rd January 2010

SNOW WHITE

Nigel Ellacott, Isobel Hurll, Loraine Porter, Robert Quarry, Michael Conway, Ellie Robertson, Rikki Stone, Nathan Daniel, Jocelyn Prah, , Owen Smith, Tami Stone, William Dignon. Voice of The Mirror Peter Beadle.

 Directed by Vivyan Ellacott, Assistant Director: Rob Mitchell-Gears, Musical Director: Stuart Rush, Choreographer: Loraine Porter Costume Design: Nigel Ellacott, Lighting & Sound Design  Peter Abery. Percussion Malcolm Ball/Luke Wastell. Wardrobe Sarah Ford.

It was a very strange experience being in a dressing room on my own.In fact, this was the exact same dressing room Peter and I had been in when we first played “Sister” in 1981. Here I was Twenty-eight years later starting another new venture- Dame.

For nearly thirty years Peter and I got in early,  made tea, chatted, put make-up on without really thinking about it, stopping to chat to people and then suddenly discovering it was beginners and we weren’t ready! Now, it was just me and a lot of silence.

Because I was able to costume and write the panto I was able to set up a template for my future Dame. I had huge help from everyone at the Kenneth More Theatre, and I was able to incorporate some “Sister” business into the part, and I added a Football themed costume, Picking my “Man” with a camera pointed at the audience, and to change the double act into a solo act- as well as adding “Worker” costumes a Dame needs that a “Sister” doesn’t have. The hardest part was toning down the sharpness and bringing up the warmth.

 The most heart-warming thing was the huge support I got from friends in “The Business”- coming to support this debut. From Barbara Windsor and Scott Mitchell, Vicki Michelle, Dr Jack Watters and Ian from New York, The Qdos Management, Michael Harrison and Kathryn Rooney to my neighbour Anna Karen and Britt Ekland, amongst so many others- I was so uplifted by these visitors and their support.

Here’s a link to that year’s Dame’s Diary and the visitors: http://www.its-behind-you.com/damesdiary20092010.html

By the end of the run I was ready and I hoped able to accept the next Qdos contract- just down the road!