Christmas is coming and for the traditionalists among us that means indulging in parties, presents and panto. Oh yes it does! This year we’re being treated to theatres full of TV and West End stars, Children’s favourites’ and even a soap star ‘hardman’ to entertain us over the festive season.
Donning sequins, satins, swashbuckling bandanas and regal attire to dazzle and delight the whole family – from babies to great-grandparents – is a magical British tradition that can’t be missed.
And this year Sussex Life has caught up with eight panto stars to discover why they’ll be giving up their Christmases to make yours so special and why so many love being booed or making the audience laugh at a theatre near you.
The baddie
‘Both Fleshcreep and Phil Mitchell are teddy bears really’
Steve McFadden, 65, EastEnders hard man Phil Mitchell , a role for which he won the British TV Awards Villain of the Year, is playing Fleshcreep in Jack and the Beanstalk at The Hawth in Crawley
There are only three panto roles I would ever do and Fleshcreep is one of them. The others are Captain Hook and King Rat in Dick Whittington. They are all larger-than-life characters which gives me the chance to go completely over the top in a way I rarely get to do in my 9-5 job.
Fleshcreep is the baddie and, like all baddies, my job is to be really naughty and push the narrative along with a bit of a punch – oh, and sing and dance really embarrassingly badly. Well, I am the baddie so that’s what you have to do isn’t it? We literally had millions of hits on social media when I was filmed as apparently nobody had ever seen singing and dancing like it!
I bring a little bit of EastEnders' Phil with me into this role and I think they are both misunderstood – they’re both little Teddy Bears really.
I’m looking forward to being on stage with such a talented cast [it stars Michael J Batchelor as the dame, Joe Gash from Rock of Ages, and Annell Odartey from Mamma Mia] in front of a very enthusiastic audience. I was at The Hawth a few years ago playing the same role and the audiences are second to none despite the fact I was booed throughout.
As I’ve told fans before, I’m not here for the gags, I'm not trying to be loved. I’m meant to be the baddie. We all know it's often the first place that children see or go to a theatre is for the panto. So, they probably don't know Phil Mitchell or my track record, I'm here to drive home the baddie role.
‘It's exciting. You don't get any feedback when you're doing TV. They say “we're moving on” and that's it. But to hear the crowd and the laughter and the music – it's very uplifting and fun.
Jack and the Beanstalk is at The Hawth in Crawley, from December 13-January 5. Tickets from £24 adult, parkwoodtheatres.co.uk/the-hawth/whats-on/jack-and-the-beanstalk
The Gladiator
‘I’m a bit feisty so my Wendy won’t be tame’
Emily Steel, 21, AKA Dynamite in BBC’s Gladiators, is playing Wendy in The Magical Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan at The White Rock, Hastings
I’m going to add a bit of spice to this role. The original character of Wendy is quite tame and I'm not like that. I can be a bit feisty. In Gladiators, Dynamite is the youngest female and explosive - someone you look at and think ‘cute’ but actually I'm very strong. So, I’ll add a bit of my energy and make it fast-paced which I think will work well.
I wanted to go down an acting route after doing sport my whole life. Doing panto fits perfectly with my Gladiators role as it appeals to children. I’m actually the youngest ever contestant so I know kids will love watching me. I’m ready to learn the acting ropes from an established actress Alexandra Mardell who has been in Coronation Street [as Emma Brooker] for years and will be great as Tinks.
I loved watching Peter Pan the film and I've seen the panto when I was younger. Every Christmas Dad would take the whole family to watch a pantomime. It’s great for getting the family together. It's something different to do and everyone always has a good time watching it. You have the comedy value for the parents and entertainment for the whole family to enjoy.
I'm so far away from my home, Hale, in the northwest but my grandma is really excited to come and watch and she's planning her trip from Liverpool to watch me.
And it makes a nice change from watching me compete in weightlifting challenges. I was just in Marbella and Miami competing and I’m off to Dubai soon, but I’ll enjoy my time in Hastings first.
The Magical Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan at The White Rock, Hastings, Fri 13 – Tue 31 December 2024. Tickets £26-28. Whiterocktheatre.org.uk
The Lovable Panto Villain
‘I became an actor because I love pantos so much’
Ben Watson, who is in his 40s, is playing Smee in The Magical Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan, at the White Rock Theatre, Hastings
I came to the White Rock in 2012 to do this role, telling myself I would only be here for a month – and here I am 12 years later. But I love playing Captain Hook's right-hand (or should that be right-hook?) man.
Smee is a pirate, a lovable villain, who just goes along with Captain Hook and doesn't realise what he's doing is wrong. He’s just following orders, but we have a lot of fun on stage. I love the script which is full of jokes like: ‘Hello it's Smee you’re looking for’, ‘Take on Smee’ and ‘Don't let the sun go down on Smee’.
Performing in Peter Pan in Hastings is perfect because it’s all about pirates and, of course, this is where there were real pirates so it’s a magical combination of history and panto.
I now live and work here having come from Norwich. I do a lot of directing at the White Rock and working with the Youth Theatre so it's now a year-round job. I get cryogenically frozen in November and then defrosted for panto. I put all my ‘serious’ acting and work on hold to do panto for the festive season.
Panto has everything - there is something for everyone. It’s one of, if not the, genres in theatre where all the family can come along and have an equally good time – a five-year-old with their great grandparents can both be enthralled by adventure or the jokes.
It's some people's first trip to the theatre – and panto is what made me become an actor. I remember seeing Michaela Strachan in Peter Pan, and one of my favourite shows was at Wimbledon where I saw Spike Milligan and Bill Pertwee in a production at Richmond Theatre as a child. It was incredible. I remember thinking, “this is the best thing I've ever seen” because of the energy.
Something is bound to happen every time I go on stage. You name it, it's happened. I've injured myself many times, lost my voice, stubbed toes, crashed into things, forgotten things – both lines and props. The good thing is you can make it look part of the plot, as if it is all planned, but we do like to be slightly mischievous as a cast!
I’m a classically trained actor who trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and did classic plays and theatre before finding my way playing guest characters on the CBBC children’s channel. Immediately prior to this year’s panto season I was performing a show I’ve written for children - Mind the Monsters, a show about mental health, at the Stade in Hastings as part of the storytelling festival in November.
Panto comes at the end of the year when everybody is getting ready to hibernate with the family and enjoy good food and put their feet up. It's one of the great British traditions and it's a great opportunity for the family to get together and have a collective experience. However good or bad the year has been, panto is a way for people to forget their worries for a couple of hours and just enjoy the experience.
The Magical Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan is at the White Rock, Hastings from December 13-31. Tickets £26-28. Whiterocktheatre.org.uk
The Prince
‘I’ve always loved panto!’
Ben Tyler, 28, is playing Prince Simon in Snow White, at the Devonshire Park, Eastbourne
Playing Prince Simon will be quite different from my most recent work in The Book of Mormon in London where I’ve been for three years. It’s by the writers of South Park about Mormon missionaries on a trip that takes unexpected turns. It's very comic but has real warmth and touches on some serious issues, too. I had to cover nine roles in detail for that so it will be a refreshing change to just learn one!
I play the prince who could be looking for the girl of his dreams and I’m starring alongside Georgie Hayles, a local actress with family in Mayfield – she’s really lovely and very talented.
The cast also includes Carli Norris as the Wickedest Queen on the back of her great roles on TV including as Belinda Slater in EastEnders, Eastbourne favourites Tucker, who plays Herbie the Huntsman, and Martyn Knight as Dame Dolly who returns for his 19th year. I’m in great panto company!
I’ve always loved pantomime. We always went to the panto, it was a family tradition, and I actually performed in pantomime as a child.
Now my family will have to come to Eastbourne instead of my home town of Chelmsford this year to watch. I’m really looking forward to it. The story and cast are lovely and there's a real sense of a great atmosphere and attitude. It's about wanting to put on a good show and we are getting on so well together.
My fiancé, Naomi and I decided to get married on a weekend visit to Brighton so Sussex is quite dear to my heart.
I’ve always been told how incredible Beachy Head is and I'm very excited to explore the area – it’s absolutely beautiful.
Snow White, at the Devonshire Park, Eastbourne, December 6 - January 12, tickets from £16.50, eastbournetheatres.co.uk
The Iconic Villain
‘I love being booed!’
Darren Clelow-Smith plays the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood at the Pavilion Theatre, Worthing
The Sheriff is a great villain to play. I’ve done 15 pantos before and have been the villain for the last 10 years and this is a great part.
Traditionally Robin Hood is a great English folk tale and the Sheriff an iconic villain with a lot of interesting character traits – narcissism, vanity, comedy.
To play the baddie you have to have a sense of humour with a glint in the eye, so you don't scare the children.
Worthing audiences are great. I know, I played Fleshcreep at the Pavilion two years ago. If you get boos from your first entrance you can tell people are up for it.
I’ve lived in Worthing since 2002 and find the sea and the Downs absolutely gorgeous – it also means I get a Christmas dinner and won't be living out of a suitcase for weeks on end as I was when I played in panto in Chesterfield last year. And my twin girls, aged 21, will come and see it as I’m local.
I've always enjoyed panto's unique family entertainment – it’s an eccentric piece of theatre where comedians, magicians, comedians and drag queens work together and it's great.
The audience often ends up asking themselves was it meant to happen or not - it keeps the audience guessing but then that's panto. If they go home and have had a great time, you know everyone’s done a good job.
And you can tell they don’t really hate you – it’s a love-hate relationship and I try to bring that to the role.
I was taken to the Stoke on Trent Theatre Royal as a child by my mum and dad and the first panto was Cinderella with Frankie Howerd in it. I've never seen anything like it, it was so colourful and vibrant.
I remember seeing Gerry and the Pacemakers and Lewis Collins from the Professionals as a villain in Aladdin and playing in panto was in me from that moment on.
Robin Hood is at The Pavilion Theatre, Worthing from 5 December, 2024 - 5 January, 2025. Tickets from £10. wtm.uk/visit/pavilion
The Risque Dame
‘My whole family can’t wait to see me in a dress’
Mike Newman stars as Queen Gertie in Sleeping with Beauty - One Small Prick, White Rock Theatre, Hastings
This will be my 25th Pantomime. My very first panto - back in 1994! - was in West Sussex in Bognor Regis so, it’s quite fitting that I should be returning to West Sussex to celebrate this milestone. Even if this panto is a slight departure from the last 24 family-friendly ones.
My connection and family history with panto runs deep. My father, [who was the Comedian Mike Newman: TV’s The Comedians, 80’s Game show 3,2,1, Freddie Starr’s Madhouse and The Russ Abbot Show) also appeared in many pantomimes during his career.
From the age of seven, I spent many a Christmas in the wings watching him performing as Muddles and even a Dame with comedian Tom O Conner and Davey Jones from the boy band ‘The Monkeys’ playing his on-stage Sons in Jack and the Beanstalk.
But the connection doesn’t stop there. My mother, once a dancer and singer in many shows, met my father on stage in a production, and I met my wife when we were both appearing in the pantomime Aladdin.
Now we have a 10-year-old boy, with history repeating itself, as he’s growing up watching me on stage.
My father and I even got to appear on stage in the Aladdin panto together back in 1995 in Bognor Regis. He was the dame and I was Comic. In fact, one of the wigs he wore in that panto, I’ll wear in this production.
This time I will be playing the dame – it’s only the second time I’ve taken on that role and probably the main reason my entire family can’t wait to see it is for the sight of me in a dress!
I certainly won’t be attempting to look glamorous, since my style is very much the traditional way the dame is played.
Add all that, my family history and the 20 plus years working as a stand-up comic and, hopefully, that gives me all the right stuff to tackle this somewhat different pantomime.
Yes, pantos have always had an element of tongue-in-cheek jokes, aimed at the parents. But in recent years much of that has been removed at the risk of offending someone which means today’s pantomimes are very different from the ones I grew up watching or even started out in.
To get the chance to be part of something new and what is fast becoming the most popular night out, is something I’m really looking forward to.
So, to sum up what you can expect in this show, in the traditional panto way: Will it be naughty? Oh yes it will. Will I be holding back? Oh no I won’t!
Sleeping with Beauty, White Rock Theatre, Hastings, January 10th, 2025. Adults only. Tickets from £24, whiterocktheatre.org.uk
The Director/Actor
‘Panto is feel good and we could use use a dollop of that’
John Partridge, Director and Fleshcreep, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Capitol, Horsham
This year I will be playing Fleshcreep in Jack and the Beanstalk. I am also directing, in fact it’s my directorial debut. I’ve been working professionally for over 40 years so I thought it was about time. So, personally I will be eating, sleeping and ‘Flesh-creeping’ it for the whole festive season.
We’ve assembled a stellar team this year, both on and off stage. I’m so lucky they all agreed to come on this adventure with me. I love what I do and I’m going to make this year’s production spectacular.
I spent my formative years at Bush Davies School in East Grinstead. This was the school I trained at after The Royal Ballet school. It was one of the premier performing arts academies in England at that time in the early 80s. I made lifelong friendships at that school. I recently performed a preview show in East Grinstead of my new solo UK Tour Dancing Man at The Chequer Mead Theatre and all my old school friends and some teachers from Bush came to support me. I hope they’ll come and see this production too.
Pantomime is about tradition. It’s about family and community. It’s also beautifully sentimental: right versus wrong, good versus evil, fairy stories, fables, princes, princesses, flying carpets and giants. It’s magical to someone like me who loves creating characters and storytelling and the one who may have liked to wear a tea towel on his head pretending he was Rapunzel when he was five! It’s a perfect match. Plus, it keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek. It’s ‘feel good’ and I think we could all use a large dollop of that!
Pantomime was my first real experience of performing in a show. I used to perform in my church pantomimes. It’s most children’s first theatrical experience, so it leaves an impression. That’s what makes it’s important and special.
I have so many memories of pantos past, but something I won’t forget is last year at The Capitol Horsham, we raised money for Momentum Children’s Charity (which I am proud to say I’ve recently become an Ambassador for) raising over £13,000 in bucket collections after the shows each day. I was absolutely stunned at the generosity shown. It warms the heart to see how kind people are.
Jack and the Beanstalk, The Capitol, Horsham, November 30, 2024 to January 2, 2025. Tickets from £20, thecapitolhorsham.com
The Clown
‘Everyone sees something different in my show’
Slava, Slava’s Snowshow, Theatre Royal, Brighton
I absolutely adore Christmas. It is a magical time filled with wonder and hope and it’s especially delightful to bring joy to people at this time. We’re always in high spirits at this time of year which means that the performance is always special.
Everything about it is special: the characters, images, costumes, and make-up. It is a fantasy world that does not resemble reality. It is just the feelings that are similar and so the audience is able to recognise them.
Everyone understands the show in a different way. For some people it is a story of a funny human being, for others, it’s the story of love and saying goodbye; for another person it might be about friendship, and for someone else it is about a journey into childhood, or about loneliness. There are many layers in this show, hence it is perceived differently by each person.
It all began a long time ago. I am in my 70s now. First it was mime, which we adored and devoted ourselves to. Clowning came next - it broke out of the circus arenas and rushed to meet its audiences on stages, variety shows, in the cinema, and on the streets. And at some point, I decided to make a performance with my character, my clown, at its centre. This happened more than 30 years ago. Since then, we never parted from my favourite show, which gets better every day. My character lives in the show. It is his world, his friends, his joys and sorrows, and his story.
We have travelled across more than 60 countries and visited pretty much every corner of the United Kingdom with the show, including Brighton, where we have performed many times. It is fantastic to be back.
We have a small cast, a truly international team. There are people from France, Canada, the UK and Italy. As for me, I usually reply that I am from the planet Earth, because I live where my show travels. So now I’m a Sussex local!
Slava’s Snowshow, Theatre Royal, Brighton, December 11-15, tickets from£15, Slava's SnowShow Tickets | Theatre Royal Brighton in Brighton | ATG Tickets
