Meet the panto villains you’ll love to hate, as they prepare to take to the stage at theatres across Hampshire this Christmas and reveal how it feels to face the boos and hisses of the audience
'Quite evil' is how actress Anne Smith describes Mrs Blunderbore, the character she's playing in Jack & The Beanstalk at Southampton's Mayflower Theatre.
'Mrs Blundebore is technically the baddie and the wife of the giant. I often play evil characters but I’m not like that at all in real life,' insists Anne, who has performed in more than ten pantos during her career, always playing the villain.
' I don’t think I'd be very good fairy material, I just can’t see myself in wings really,' she adds.
'Some people don’t like the "boos" but I don’t mind it. The more you make your mark, the more they boo, so you know you’re doing your job if you can get some sort of reaction. You have to have that balance of the audience cheering for the ones they love, the heroes, and booing you as the villain and getting to wind them up. That’s all quite exciting actually, it’s like being a football player and scoring a goal.
'As long as they boo and respond to you, that’s all that matters. A hiss, a boo, a shout! It depends how the kids are and you have to play with the audience and how they respond. I enjoy doing relaxed performances, they’re very special. Families can come together and feel comfortable.'
Anne, who says her get-up features lots of feathers and fur, paired with drag queen make-up including double eyelashes secured with Copydex – 'they last you a good fortnight' – particularly enjoys the 'hysterical' backstage atmosphere during a panto run.
'You’re there from around noon to 9 or 10pm. There’s always a sense of camaraderie and chit chat, a gossip about other jobs and who you know and you don’t know. The atmosphere is usually quite jolly because most people here will know of each other somehow. It’s fun!'
December 14 to January 5, mayflower.org.uk
The boos from the audience will be the best thing about playing the villain for Jenny O'Leary, who has been cast as evil fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty at The Anvil, Basingstoke.
'It’s not exactly normal theatre etiquette to boo, so I’ll enjoy the kids booing me and egging them on, encouraging the boos and revelling in it,' says the actress, who has previously played Spirit of the Lamp in Aladdin, when she says she loved the bond she formed with the cast, as well as the buzz in the audience.
'Just being the right blend of scary and silly onstage,' she adds, 'and being able to bounce off, and be cheeky with, my cast mates. I'm well versed in villain, so looking forward to treading the boards. Plus, who doesn’t love a maniacal laugh? Mwahahaha!
It's that audience interaction that makes being away from friends and family during so much of the festive season that little bit easier, says Jenny, who'll be donning a 'wonderfully wicked' green fairy costume for her role, complete with horns and wings.
'I think there’s a firm understanding between actors and their families that it’s quality not quantity during the festive season or panto contracts. It’s hard, as we’d all love to spend the entire holiday with our family, but the atmosphere from our audience more than makes up for it.
December 12 to January 5, anvilarts.org.uk
Former Eastenders star Lorraine Stanley is very much looking forward to playing Queen Rat in her first ever pantomime — Dick Whittington – at Kings Theatre, Portsmouth.
'It's a whole new experience,' says the 48-year-old, who played Karen Turner in the BBC soap, 'but I'm ready to embrace it.'
Rather fittingly, the actress's first memory of panto as a young audience member was watching Lorraine Chase – in Dick Whittington. She can't wait for her turn to tread the boards.
'My costume is so cool. it’s velvet and has a basque so I've got a bit of cleavage going on,'' she says, 'as soon as I put it on I felt like the character! And the boots with the studs are wicked, oh and the rat ears I love!'
Lorraine, who has family living in Portsmouth, will be regularly Facetiming her nine-year-old daughter Nancy until she finishes school for Christmas and can join her in the city.
She's hoping her character will spark a boisterous reaction from the audience
'The louder the boos, the better I’ve been at my job I shall be encouraging the audience to boo at me with as much ratty sassiness and lairy-ness (if they're even words!) as I can deliver!
' I think we feel sorry for the villain because we empathise with the situations they find themselves in and it’s not always their fault. We all love baddies because deep down we secretly want to be one ourselves. They seem to have far more fun right?'
November 29 to December 31, kingsportsmouth.co.uk
Cinderella's 'beautiful and talented' sisters Euphemia and Lavinia – also known as Gareth Mitchell and Garnon Davies – are most looking forward to seeing the 'burly brutes' in the audience, when they take to the panto stage for the fourth year, this time at Fareham Live.
'As usual, we'll be looking for a handsome, hunky boyfriend out in the crowd,' say the pair, who say they wouldn't know what it's like to play the villain of the piece.
'We are the love interest after all – there's no way the Prince won't fall in love with us. We don't wear any make up at all. We are natural beauties with a keen eye for fashion – can't you tell?'
If they were playing baddies, the sisters say the best thing about it would be the boos and shrieks of the children in the audience. 'We've heard poor Cinders gets those a few times,' they add.
'You can't help feel sorry for that lazy Cinderella – if she was better at cleaning we might like her a bit more.'
Although they admit that Cinders does make the backstage atmosphere more enjoyable.'Once Cinderella has cleaned our dressing room, run us a bath each, made us dinner, scrubbed the loos, given us a foot rub, cleaned and ironed our outfits and put on some relaxing whale sounds for our nap... it's usually quite nice.'
And will good triumph over evil in this panto? 'Do you mean mean good looks, it must be a typo... if so we will always triumph cos we are lush!'
December 13 to January 5, trafalgartickets.com/fareham-live-fareham
'Oh yes I am', is the response from Brontë Alice-Tadman, when I ask if she's looking forward to playing villain Demon Vice in Mother Goose at Theatre Royal, Winchester this year.
It's quite a change for the actress, who has previously played Snow White and Cinderella in panto.
'I'm looking forward to see how evil I can get away with being,' she says. 'Playing the princess has been lovely, but it's going to be fun playing something so different. I’m so excited to go all out with evil makeup, bold eyebrows, dark lipstick and all the glitter!
'I’ll be encouraging as many boos and hisses as the people of Winchester can muster.'
It was actually seeing panto as a child that inspired Brontë to become a performer, she remembers.
'As a little girl we would go to the Orchard Panto every year as a family with a bunch of family friends and we sat on the front row, I thought it was just about as close to actual magic that a human could get - one year, Barbara Windsor was the fairy godmother, she was perfect and watching her on stage planted one of the seeds that led to me persuading a career on stage.'
As well as revelling in the 'giddy' atmosphere backstage during the run, Brontë is hoping her character will evoke a little sympathy from the audience.
'Very few people are born evil,' she says. 'I think most “baddies” or “villains” (in life and panto land) are a project of being misunderstood or raised to be so. I think it’s more entertaining if there is a glimmer of hope that the villain might join the light, if they are shown enough love and encouragement.'
November 30 November to January 5, theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk
THE BEST OF THE REST...
This year's panto offering at New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, promises to be 'simply the beast', as it presents the tale as old as time, Beauty and the Beast. Expect a spectacular adventure as Dame Dotty and her son, Potty Pierre, cause delightful chaos at the chateau.
December 13 to January 5, newtheatreroyal.com
Pocket Panto returns to Hanger Farm in Totton for the tenth year running with all the usual magic, mischief and mayhem you could possibly wish for from a family favourite. This new and hilarious production of Aladdin by Pocket Theatre will captivate kids of all ages and give mums, dads and grandparents more than just a good old laugh along the way.
December 11-15, hangerfarm.co.uk
The audience at Aldershot's Princes Hall are invited to follow Belle, a beautiful young woman, and the Beast, a handsome Prince who has been placed under an evil spell, as they present a production of Beauty and the Beast. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved in return, the spell will be broken and he will return to his true self.
December 6-31, princeshall.com
