The gang is back together at Theatre Severn this Christmas, starring in a panto version of Sleeping Beauty! Delightful Dame Brad Fitt returns to direct and star as Nurse Nellie, writer Paul Hendy is cooking up a storm, and Tommy J Rollason is set to wow the crowd as juggling jester Jangles. The production has a West End flavour, with panto regular Gemma Sutton appearing as the wicked Carabosse, and Dionne Ward-Anderson and Harry Chandler making their panto debuts as Fairy Moonbeam and Prince Michael respectively. Gemma, Dionne and Harry are all coming to Shrewsbury direct from treading the boards in London. 

We spoke to Brad, Gemma, Tommy and Paul to find out more about the pantomime of your dreams...

Brad Fitt, you’re Theatre Severn’s seasoned Dame! Are you looking forward to reappearing as Nurse Nellie?

Brad: I've been Nurse Nellie before - I think this is only my second Sleeping Beauty. Some theatres just do a cycle of four or five titles - Jack, Dick, Aladdin, Cinderella, maybe Snow White - whereas here we’ve really done lots of different titles. It’s good that we’re only just starting to repeat them now.

You moved a bit closer to Theatre Severn last year and are now settled in Oswestry. How was last year’s much shorter commute?

Brad: It was lovely being able to go home on Christmas Eve and be home at five o’clock, as opposed to getting home at ten o’clock and then having to leave at 5am on Boxing Day to get back for the matinee. I left at something like half-eleven on Boxing Day morning last year - what a joy!

What’s it like performing a long panto season, when each night can be completely different?

Brad: Sometimes you’ll have a school show with littlies down the front - four- or five-year-olds - and then teenagers further back. They are a completely different show to your OAP matinee, when you get a lot of people who are either members of clubs or they’ve come from residential care homes. I love those ones. They’re my kind of people - the old dears! And then you move into more adult family audiences, and then there’s a buzz when you get to the point where people have left work, they’re done for Christmas, and the audience changes again. Christmas Eve is always lovely, especially when you get the kids up at the end, because it’s Christmas Eve and they’re all excited.
One of my favourite shows, which we only started doing two or three years ago, is the Relaxed performance. They are brilliant shows and I love them. They're for people that have sensory issues, or maybe they’re neurodivergent, or maybe they just find dark auditoriums challenging. We can do a whole show with the lights half-up. We don’t do any of the big, loud bangs. People can come and go as they please.

Would you prefer to sleep for 100 years like Sleeping Beauty, or be the Prince who saves the day?

Brad: I do love a nap. I’m quite lucky - some people can’t nap, but I can totally just lay down in the interval. If I know I’ve got a 15-minute interval, and I’m not on at the start, if I’m tired, I can put my head down, close my eyes, set my alarm for 10 minutes and go to sleep. Alarm goes off, and I wake up. So, the fact that I can do that, I’d say I’d like to go in and save the day. I could sleep on a galloping hedgehog; I really could. 

Gemma Sutton, although you’re new to Theatre Severn, you’re no stranger to panto. How are you feeling about playing the evil fairy, Carabosse?

Gemma: It’s actually my first baddie! I feel like I’ve ticked off all the other parts - I’ve done principal boy a few times, the young-girl part and the good fairy, but this is my first bad fairy. 

What is it about panto that keeps you coming back?

Gemma: I love pantomime because it's an absolute explosion of fun and silliness. What I love most about it is that it’s often children’s first experience of the theatre. Seeing those young little faces completely absorbed in the story, hearing the laughter, sensing the fear when the baddie comes out... although we won’t be too evil, don’t worry! I just think it gives children a love of theatre for life.

Do you have a pre-show routine - and is it the same whether you're on stage in the West End or appearing in a panto?

Gemma: Being in a dressing room is my second favourite place in the world - my favourite place would be on stage - and there’s something quite beautiful about it. It’s your own little space. It’s a home from home; you make sure it smells good and that you’ve got your photos up. That half an hour before the show, I have to do things in a certain order - not totally, but it calms me. I do a vocal warm-up and listen to some good music.

You’ve tried on your costumes today - does that help you get a feel for the character?

Gemma: It really does, as soon as you put a wig on, or a particular shoe - it’s the tiniest things. I’ve got my wand with me today, so I’ve been playing with that for the first time, seeing what chaos I can create. That’s what’s so glorious about playing characters, particularly in pantomime, where everyone is so extravagantly dressed. You can just go wild with your characterisation.

Tommy J Rollason - you’ll be providing plenty of comedy and silliness. What’s it like being the comic in a pantomime?

Tommy: My role is to keep the energy up in the show. I like to think I’m part of the audience, really. If anything goes wrong - which it does in panto - the audience can relate to me and Brad. We haven’t got to stick to as much of a role as others. I’m Jangles, who is a jester, so I’ll be able to bring some of my juggling tricks along. All my family are in entertainment, so I learnt it as a kid and then kept going! 

What’s your favourite classic panto element?

Tommy: I would say the slosh! When I first came here, for Beauty And The Beast, we had a great slosh routine; it was manic. Then Jack And The Beanstalk last year, we had another great slosh routine, but I wasn’t in it! I was, but I wasn’t getting covered in slosh. I love physical comedy - that’s what my act is, really - so I love a slosh routine.

What’s your first memory of panto?

Tommy: My dad was producing a panto - it was Goldilocks And The Three Bears - and I wasn’t in the show. I would have been six or seven. I kept begging my dad to let me be in the show. Goldilocks has got a big circus bit, and I came out and did a little routine. I would have done about 50 seconds or a minute. It meant the world to me - I loved it!

Paul Hendy, you’ve produced and written panto at Theatre Severn with Evolution for many years now. How did that partnership start?

Paul: I consider this my home theatre, and such a great theatre as well. It really is beautiful, and the audiences are so loyal and so vocal! I really wanted to produce and write at this theatre, so we tried really hard to win the contract, which we did! It’s been 14 very happy years. We love producing here.

What is it about panto that keeps people coming back?

Paul: It’s so special, the pantomime - it’s so uniquely British. Pantomime years ago could have been considered a little bit naff - I used to appear in panto, and some of them weren’t great shows. I think the quality of the productions these days has really improved. You do get that West End standard with the actors, but also with the sets and the special effects. I think that when people come here, they’re genuinely blown away by the standard of it - and of course, it’s funny! People like to laugh. These days, we’re living in very difficult times, and I think people want to have a good time - and they’re guaranteed a good time with a pantomime.

Sleeping Beauty runs at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, from Friday 29 November to Sunday 12 January