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WORDS BRIAN BEACOM PHOTOGRAPHS KIRSTY ANDERSON WHETHER THE LEAD ACTOR IN A PANTOMIME IS A MAN OR A WOMAN IS IRRELEVANT, SAYS ELAINE C SMITH, WHO IS RETURNING TO THE GLASGOW PANTO STAGE AFTER A 13-YEAR HIATUS. THE GREATEST GENDER INEQUITY LIES IN THE PATH
Elaine C Smith talks panto, gender equality in theatre and sexual harassment
THE chat with Elaine C Smith has been set up to talk about her return to pantomime in Glasgow after 13 years. But it doesn’t take long for my conversation with the star of Sleeping Beauty at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow to yield revelations that are very far removed from fairy tales.
Smith’s unbridled joy in returning to her hometown after a long stint in Aberdeen turns to current themes of sexism and misogyny. But doesn’t this bright world of cross-dressing, of tales of princes and princesses, represent more of an egalitarian platform than straight theatre?
“Not really,” says Smith, who plays the Fairy this time out, with a wry smile. “I think women have to work twice as hard to get there in panto. If you put a man in a dress that’s funny. A woman, so what?”
Smith has a point; women don’t tend to dress up as men in panto, the exception being Principal Boy, a female in thigh-length boots. What about encouragement? We know the world of variety theatre often denied women the chance to get laughs, the argument from men being that they aren’t funny.
“I’ve been told that in the past,” says Smith, who is 59. “In fact, Rikki Fulton once declared that to be the case. But to be fair to Rikki, he later came to see me in panto and then wrote me a beautiful letter, which I still have. He said the panto was the best thing he had ever seen. And Jimmy Logan called me up and said similar.”
But there were surely many others who didn’t – and perhaps still don’t – think women can front panto, I suggest. Smith’s voice drops to a more serious note. “Look, I’ve seen women in panto who are rubbish. But I’ve also seen men who are rubbish. It’s about using people who are good. Yet, here’s the real injustice. So many men are allowed to go on stage for a 15-year stretch to give them a chance to find their comic persona – whereas a woman has to arrive the finished article. The female has to arrive and be Sarah Millican.”
Smith gives examples of Scottish women not being given the chance to lead panto from the front. It made no sense, she says, that Dorothy Paul, once Scotland’s comedy queen, was never lassoed by the major theatres and turned into a panto star. “It wasn’t to do with Dorothy’s talent. But at the time women weren’t allowed to play the really big parts. And Una McLean also should have been a headliner.”
Smith and Barbara Rafferty broke the mould when the pair appeared as Uglies in the King’s Theatre in Glasgow’s production of Cinderella in 1996. Was there a widespread belief until then that women shouldn’t play the grotesques, that they should stick to the prettier parts?
“Yes, definitely,” she says, laughing. “And there have been times during panto season when I’ve looked at myself in the mirror and wondered why my husband is still married to me.”
Her tone becomes less jocular. “The thing is, women can create problems for themselves because at times we have a problem with our vanity. I know of women who have gone on a diet for months before they appear in panto, who are so concerned about revealing a fabulous figure.
“Women have been brought up and conditioned to look pretty but you can’t look gorgeous and be funny. Pamela Stephenson, for example, was too attractive to be really funny whereas the likes of Phylis Diller, Victoria Wood, Dawn French and Catherine Tate have all been prepared to look terrible.
“When I appeared in Aladdin I had the producers put me in a fat suit. And if you see me in the next episode of [the BBC sitcom] Two Doors Down I was asked to look like a ‘puppy breeder’ – and that’s a perfect description.
“What I would say to young actresses is it’s all very well being pretty when you’re young but longevity comes with being prepared not to look pretty. I had to learn when I joined Naked Video I had to dress down, which of course led to Mary Nesbitt.
“The key point about panto comedy roles for women is you have to be able to make an arse of yourself. In this panto I’m going to be Wonder Woman at some point. And it won’t be a pretty sight. But will it be funny? Oh yes it will. I’ll be up there saying: ‘I’m Wonder Woman, Queen of the Amazon!’ and the tag line will be: ‘Amazon? Is that where you got that costume?’”
IF women have to accept more of a comedic responsibility in panto, Smith says they should also be given the chance to play wider roles. The roles women are “allowed” to play are usually restricted to the evil witch, the virgin or the good fairy. But Smith admits playing an Ugly these days wouldn’t work.
“The climate has changed too much. I think men can take the brutalist approach but the misogynistic lines don’t sit right when coming out of a woman’s mouth.”
At least the debate is now open about women’s contribution to panto and to acting in general. But the battle to eradicate sexism, she says, has been horrific. “Well, things have changed in the 30 years I’ve been on television when [at the beginning] it was ‘OK’ for men to comment on your tits. Over 30 per cent of the crew working on Two Doors Down are women.
“And I’ve been lucky along the way in that I’ve had power since I was 29. I’m also seen as being cheeky and garrulous. But what people in positions of power, the [Kevin] Spaceys or the [Harvey] Weinsteins, do is pick on young, vulnerable women and men.”
Smith rewinds to the days prior to her rise in profile. “Before I became well known I could give you, like most young women, about 40 incidents of abuse. You see, there I was in my twenties with big tits and Farrah Fawcett flicks and seen to be fair game.
“I remember going to have my photos taken once by someone who was doing lots of theatre shots, and I went to his studio, which was in his house.
“I was asked to bring different outfits to change into, and went into another room. But while I was changing I turned around and suddenly there he was, asking ‘Can I
touch your tits?’ I was in this place on my own. His wife wasn’t there. I was terrified. He begged: ‘Just let me, I won’t tell anyone.’ Christ, I panicked. But somehow, I managed to get him out of the room saying something like ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
“But then I carried on with the photoshoot. What else could I do?”
It would be easy to say boot him in the tripods and run for the door.
“But what if you’re 23 and keen to
Before I became well known I could give you, like most young women, about 40 incidents of abuse