Panto’s bad gal at the Beck
Birds of a Feather star takes on villain in production of Snow White
TRACEY’S a wicked queen. Oh yes she is!
Better known as Linda Robson, the Birds Of A Feather star is nesting in Hayes this Christmas, as the bad gal in the Beck Theatre panto, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.
She stars alongside local lovely, Lauren Stroud.
Friends, family and fairy tales
BIRDS of a Feather star Linda Robson is soon to become the wicked queen of Hayes when she stars in the Beck Theatre’s Christmas panto. The sitcom legend will e coming to the borough o act alongside Hayes’ orn-and-bred actress Lauren Stroud. Linda even took a reak from filming a new eries of the BAFTAominated show to aunch the pantomime, now White and the even Dwarfs, at the theatre in Grange Road, Hayes, this week.
Best known as Tracey Stubbs in Birds of a Feather, which has broadcast more than 100 episodes, Linda is loved by her fans, so how will she cope with playing an evil character this Christmas?
“It will be lots of fun and I’m sure there will be a fair few jokes in there so she won’t be too evil,” she said.
“Plus the audience will know it is me straight away and they will be expecting some laughs because they know me from Birds.
“We won’t be taking anything too seriously and there will be lots of interaction with the audience, so I can’t wait.”
The cast will be given scripts some time this week, but will only begin rehearsals a week before the show hits the stage.
“It is hard work but we are all there for each other and I think as long as you bring the audience in on it, it doesn’t matter if you make a mistake – it can actually be quite funny,” Linda said.
She has taken part in panto in the past but took a break for the past three years to spend time with her family at Christmas, especially granddaughter Lila.
“Hayes is close enough that I can still spend Christmas at home and see everyone and they are going to come down and watch it too,” she said.
The comedy actress took to the jungle in 2012 as one of the celebrities in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
“That was something that I had been asked to do and I thought, well if I don’t do it now, I never will. I just had a good time and I was not going to do anything embarrassing because I knew my family were watching.”
Family is clearly important to the sitcom star, who has three children, Bobbie, Louis and Lila’s mum Lauren, with husband of 25 years, Mark.
She is joined by local girl Lauren Stroud who bagged the role in Hayes, ‘just round the corner from home’, fresh from an impressive stint in the West End as understudy to Glinda in hit musical Wicked.
“I grew up at the Beck and I know everyone here because I used to do the summer project every year where you come along in the summer holidays, rehearse, direct and then give a performance to friends and family.
“It’s so nice to be back and to be able to be at home for Christmas but still be performing,” she said.
Tickets for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which runs from Saturday, December 13 to Sunday, January 4, are available from becktheatre.org.uk.