Panto baddie Lesley is secretly quite nice
Birds of a Feather actress Lesley Joseph is spending this Christmas in Birmingham. She tells ROZ LAWS about traditions and superstitions
Michael encouraged him to audition for the lead role in the new London Palladium production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He got the part, left drama school and was soon receiving rave reviews in his first professional role.
Now Lesley will be taking him under her wing as she shows him the panto ropes.
She says: “I saw Jac in Joseph and he’s awfully good. He has a wonderful voice. And how very exciting for him! I love to see a young talent who can do it.
“For me it’s really important to teach theatrical traditions to the next generation as I don’t want them to die out. I love all that. In panto, good characters come on from stage right and bad ones from the left.
“We tell people to break a leg instead of good luck. I heard that’s because the curtains were called legs, and if you break them it’s because they’ve been overused with curtain calls.
“You don’t whistle in a theatre, because you might get hit by a light or piece of scenery flying in. The crew were off-duty sailors and would communicate through coded whistles. If you whistle in the dressing room, you have to go out, knock three times and come back in.
“I am quite superstitious and I do have pre-show rituals. If I do something on the first night, like touch something as I leave the dressing room, then I’ll do it before every show.
“I have two words I say if something goes wrong, neither of which I will tell you, because they are peculiar to me.”
Lesley made her panto debut at Birmingham Hippodrome in 1993, playing Fairy Bow Bells in Dick Whittington with John Nettles,
Wayne Sleep and Wolf from Gladiators. She returned in 2012 as Enchantress of the Ocean in Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean
Pirates with Brian Conley.
She says: “This year I get to be wonderfully evil for a change. I’m always very happy to come to the Hippodrome, it’s a fantastic theatre. I know the quality of the show is going to be really good and that audiences are going to be great. It’s a privilege and to be trusted with a panto here is a big deal. You always get the most wonderful sets and costumes.
“I remember Robinson Crusoe started with this huge ship coming down the stage with flames coming out of it. Things like that really make your heart stop. Live theatre is so dynamic and wonderful. I really think people get affected by it in a way they don’t with anything else. There’s something about knowing that what you’re seeing is being created just for you in that moment.
“You can do so much in a panto, things you can’t get away with elsewhere. It moves so quickly, you go straight from drama to comedy to music to a dance number.
“Even though it’s funny for the audience, it’s important to realise that panto isn’t a joke for the cast. It takes a lot of skill and we’ve lost many great panto performers. I would love to have done panto with Les Dawson and we were due to here in 1993 but he died. I was absolutely gutted I couldn’t work with him.”
However, the Hippodrome has found a hugely talented panto star in Matt Slack, returning for his seventh consecutive year, much to Lesley’s delight.
She says: “I’ve worked with Matt a lot, in a few pantos and in three tours of Hot Flush. We call each other mother and son and trust each other implicitly. We know how to read the audience. If something doesn’t work, we speed through and get a laugh on the next line. We know how far we can take it. I’m really pleased that people are discovering how brilliant he is.”
Lesley is looking trim in a tightfitting, revealing costume though she laughs: “I’m in this dress within an inch of its life, so I will have to lose some weight before we start the panto!
“Then I keep fit by walking every day through Birmingham city centre. I won’t give up panto until my body gives up on me, which I hope won’t be for a while yet.”
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs plays Birmingham Hippodrome from December 21 – February 2. For tickets, ring 0844 338 5000 or go to birminghamhippodrome.com.