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Dear John

Tips for performing in pantomime?

Question:
I should love to appear in a pantomime next year - do you have any tips for breaking into this field?

Answer:
I think you've made a very good start by putting your mind to it while this year's panto season is still in session. It's usually mid-year when I start to get enquiries on this topic from panto-minded performers. Unfortunately once the panto publicity shots are starting to appear, much of the casting has already taken place and your chances of getting a start in the coming season may already be, wait for it, Behind You! Far from being seasonal events, many of our best pantos are put together by specialist companies and by very experienced writers, directors and producers in this field. For them, creating the best product and topping it off with the best cast is a year-long job and one they are very serious about. If you are serious about getting something for next year and haven't actually been to a panto since you were at school, I would strongly recommend that you watch as many shows as you can this year and see what's required. Meanwhile here are some tips from two performers who have a lot of panto experience.

What the experts say:

Bryonie Pritchard

From playing a temptress in Emmerdale, appearing with Jerry Springer writer Stewart Lee and partner in comedy Richard Herring in their Fist of Fun TV series and exploring darker comedy waters with BBC2's Nighty Night, Bryonie Pritchard's panto work has usually seen her cast in the more innocent personas of Alice in Dick Whittington, Robin Hood in Babes in the Wood and her most recent role as Jack in the Rose Theatre Tewkesbury's excursion to the top of that famous panto Beanstalk.

"Playing principals and goodies in panto can often be very challenging performance-wise since they are often pivotal to the plot and it is very important that the audience believes in them. However, unlike the broader characters, you are often much more behind the 'fourth wall' and don't have as much freedom to make direct connection with the audience through participation routines.

"That said, I've found that even the streetwise kids are happy to accept the storybook setting of a panto as long you give them a truthful performance they can believe in and most importantly that they can relate to. Remember that the original fairy tales on which most pantos are based were not necessarily just for children.

"If I am playing a princess or a young hero, even if I am in a period costume, I try to give the character reactions and emotions that the modern youngster would recognise, along with their mums and dads who after all, were once youngsters themselves. Having played with a lot of highly experienced comedians, I know that the best way to make comedy work, whether it's dark or light, is to take your performance very seriously and this applies just as much to panto as to something like Nighty Night."

David Redgrave

When it comes to pantomime villainy, David Redgrave has an extremely nefarious 'rap sheet' which ranges from playing King Rat in Dick Whittington and Fleshcreep in Jack and the Beanstalk to Abanazar in Aladdin. A panto veteran, David, who has just finished a run as Baron Hardup in Cinderella at the Civic Centre in Middleton has worked in many touring shows and has been a particular favourite at the Gawsworth Festival in shows that are as diverse as Blithe Spirit, Dracula and Lady Windermere's Fan.

"A lot of performers don't like the idea of being booed when on stage but when it comes to playing the villain, the more boos you get, the better you have done your job. One of the things I enjoy most about these parts is that, along with the comics, they offer the best opportunities for interacting with the audience.

"Of course, I've done quite a bit of TiE work so I'm used to the way children respond, usually with great honesty, and for any performer seriously considering targeting next year's panto market, whatever experience you can gain working with young audiences in the meantime would be a great asset.

"Although the majority of pantos use microphones these days, even fully miked up, you can struggle to be heard if you're in situations where there are nearly a thousand kids shouting back at you, as I have been. So if your main performance experience is in the studio rather than on the stage, you will definitely need to brush up on your projection skills for panto work.

"Not only will you make more of an impact performance wise but you might just lessen the effects of the dreaded 'panto throat' which tends to punish panto heroes and villains alike towards the end of a long and noisy run."

John sums up

Picking up on David's last point, I should remind you that while panto can be tremendous fun, great performance experience and very welcome money at the end of the year, any myth that it's 'easy money' will get a big "oh no it's not'' from virtually any experienced panto performer. The number of shows per week, the energy required and the likelihood of working far from home in what is normally family time means that performers earn every penny they get.

* Feedback/queries are welcome to dearjohn@thestage.co.uk

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