Festive favourite Matt Slack returns to Birmingham Hippodrome this Christmas, clocking up his 11th consecutive year as the city’s pantomime funnyman. Matt stars as Pirate Smee in seafaring panto adventure Peter Pan, appearing alongside Brummie legend Alison Hammond - who returns for a second year - resident ‘Dame’ Andrew Ryan, and Danny Mac as Captain Hook.

The Hippodrome hosts the largest regional panto production in the UK, and each year has to meet - or exceed - the audience’s stellar expectations.

“This is one of the biggest shows outside of the London Palladium,” Matt explains, “and when you see what they’ve got in their show… There is a lot of pressure. I give as much as I possibly can, there’s always the support around, and as long as the audience wants me - and as far as I’m aware, the majority do… 

“People like familiarity. When they see someone they know, they feel comfortable. It’s tough, but I’m very privileged and very happy.”

Panto season is one of the most popular times in the theatre’s calendar, and there are plenty of performances to meet demand. However, with multiple shows in a day, a long theatrical run, and all that festive excitement, there’s always the chance that a show might go off the rails!...

“We’ve had so many moments that have been hilarious. I’ve got to say, as it’s Peter Pan, one of the funniest moments was when Darren Day played Captain Hook. At the end, the crocodile’s jaws come out of the orchestra pit, he steps in and goes ‘Goodbye, World…’ He got stuck! He’d pressed the panic button inside by mistake, and he couldn’t get out. The crocodile’s jaws just clamped shut - it didn’t move!

We must’ve been on stage laughing for a good five minutes. It was hilarious! Eventually he got out, and he just legged it off stage. It was very funny - the audience were in on it, so we all had a good laugh.”

Mid-show mishaps are something of an inevitability - but whenever chaos reigns, as one of the most experienced performers on stage, Matt is well equipped to improvise away from the script. 

“The key with ad-libbing is to make it look like it’s ad-libbing. In any professional, slick production - as these shows are - there’s a massive village of people making the production work, so it has to be quite precise. I have free reign if something does happen. We try to do the prep work - the hard graft goes in before... and people love it when things go down a different route.”

With his first decade in Birmingham panto now under his belt, Matt knows how to pitch comedy perfectly to a mixed audience of adults and children.

“It’s an instinct that comes naturally, and it always has with me. You’ve got to know where to draw the line, and where to push the boundaries… We are aimed towards a family audience, but we also want to entertain the adults. It’s all about double entendre and disguising it - as long as it goes over the kids’ heads and adults are laughing, that’s a job done. It’s a tricky area, and I try very hard to nail it. It’s not an easy line to walk.”

Matt, like many of the biggest stars in panto, gets involved in creating the show before even setting a foot on stage. Plans for next year’s production sometimes start brewing more than a year in advance. “I start thinking about it as I’m doing it. Last year, in Jack And The Beanstalk, I was thinking ‘We’re doing Peter Pan next - what can we do?’” 

“When I finish, I collapse for a month. I literally switch off - my body, my mind, they shut down - because it’s so intense. I have to switch off, and then to get going again is quite difficult. I get a lot of ideas early on, and then I can play with stuff through the year, so I’m ready.”

There’s a while to go before he can put his feet up this season - and a lot more fun to be had in the meantime! One of the highlights of any panto production is comic banter between the cast - and in more than half of Matt’s Hippodrome panto appearances, Andrew Ryan has also appeared as the Dame.

“A wonderful Dame! He knows me and I know him… I’m not sure how many years we’ve done. It’s nice because if I’m gonna go off on one, there’s mutual respect there. He’s a fantastic Dame in his own right, and I do my stuff. I like working with other people. We allow each other to have our moments. If you stand on someone’s toes, you’ve got to be able to take your foot off and allow them to have their time and share the stage - it’s a big stage.”

There’s plenty of panto silliness to enjoy (Oh, no there isn’t!) but does Matt have a favourite slapstick moment?

“Oh blimey! Well... there’s the If I Were Not routine - ‘If I were not in Neverland…’ That’s a classic, with the sound effects. There’s only so many slapstick routines you do. We’re doing a new one this year - it’s a bit of a twist on the 12 Days of Christmas; this year it’s A Sailor Went To Sea Sea Sea.”

Fully prepped for anything which might happen on stage (and, as it’s panto, that’s a long list) there’s only one vital piece of the puzzle missing: the audience. And there must surely be something special about Midlands audiences as far as Matt is concerned, given that he’s enticed back to Birmingham year after year...

“They’re just the best. They’re so warm, they’ve welcomed me like one of their own. I think they are a very unique type of person - very positive, very upbeat, nice, friendly and welcoming. And they like to have a laugh, which helps! What else have we got at the minute? Let’s have a laugh! Don’t worry about it - relax, and let’s just have a bit of fun!”

Feature by Jessica Clixby

Peter Pan shows at Birmingham Hippodrome from Saturday 21 December to Sunday 2 February