‘I just love doing pantomime’
JEFFREY DAVIES chats to panto veteran Vicki Michelle as the former Allo Allo actress gets ready for her role as the wicked fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty at Weston-super-mare’s Playhouse
ALLO, Allo it’s panto time. Oh yes it is! And this year’s festive favourite treat at The Playhouse, Westonsuper-mare, is the popular fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The spectacular show, described as ‘the pantomime of everyone’s dreams’, stars Allo, Allo actress Vicki Michelle and children’s television presenter Derek ‘Milkshake’ Moran, as well as Emily Day, Michael Goble, Daniel Slade, Richard Alan, Collette Stewart and Gareth Davies.
So ‘welcome to the land of fairy tales’ trumpets The Playhouse, and get ready to boo the baddy, cheer on the goody, and have a good old-fashioned night of traditional family entertainment.
Playing the Wicked Carabosse in this lavish production of Sleeping Beauty is experienced pantomime performer Vicky Michelle who has well over 30 pantos to her credit. So an obvious lover of the genre, I put to the actress ahead of the show’s arrival in the popular Somerset holiday resort next week. But why especially?
“Oh I just love doing pantomime, Jeffrey, even though I think it is one of the most difficult genres to do. You are actually acting and performing on stage while interacting with the audience who are very much part of the show. Some people can do it and some people can’t. But for me it’s that wonderful rapport you have with the audience. Especially the children who believe this is magic. You see their little faces and they believe everything that is going on. It’s just a joy doing panto, it really is,” the Essex-born actress answered with a smile.
“Sleeping Beauty is one of the fairy tales that everyone knows and it’s really nice when you stick to the storyline so that the children understand as well. It is so lovely. And this panto is one of those that has everything. The handsome Prince, the romance and the baddies which is why it’s one of my very favourite ones. And this one has also incorporated a lot of songs that are in vogue,” she added.
“I have played Fairy quite a few times but I do like playing the baddy. I really do. It is harder work but it’s also great fun. I play the evil fairy Carabosse who doesn’t get invited to the ball and who puts the evil spell on Sleeping Beauty. She’s a really good part to play and I’m enjoying rehearsing the role very much. I can’t wait to get on stage and play the wonderful part.”
“The script for this panto is very good. The characters are very good as well. Some of the cast are regulars at Westonsuper-mare’s pantomimes which I think is important because the audience love to see familiar faces.”
Pantomime is a particularly British tradition. An institution staged at a very special time of year, I remarked.
“Yes it is a very British tradition performed, as you say, at such a lovely time of year. But I do think a lot of other countries are doing pantos now and very successfully too. But we did take the lead on pantos as you said,” Vicki agreed before she started outlining the essential ingredients she feels a good panto needs.
“Well, they need to be magical. They should get the children to use their imagination. They should encourage interaction between the people on the stage and in the audience. And they also need to make the adults and the children feel they have beaten the baddie because good always wins over evil. Pantomimes are really very moral shows in that way. So for me those are the qualities a good panto needs. They are what make a panto special,” she replied.
Normally, of course, if an audience hissed and boo-ed at the performers during a play it would be frowned upon. Conversely, pantos positively welcome and encourage the hissing and boo-ing. Vicki laughed.
“Yes exactly. It’s very important in panto to bring that audience interaction into the show. It’s a must. It’s what makes it a true family show. Audiences feel they are part of it which is how it should be because they are. It’s a very important part of the show. You are breaking the fourth wall and interacting with mums, dads, kids, grandads and grandmas. It’s wonderful. But, of course, if the audience boo-ed and hissed at the actors in a straight play or drama you’d think you had done a very bad performance indeed,” the actress who graduated from the Aida Foster Theatre School, said.
For many children, pantomime is their first experience of live theatre. A good memorable performance and production can make them theatregoers for life, I suggested.
“Absolutely. I totally agree with you Jeffrey. Introducing them to the theatre at an early age often leads to them going to the theatre as adults. They often become big theatre fans which we need.”
Vicki said that pantomime performers usually have little time to rehearse for the annual must-see festive season treat. I would be a nervous wreck at the prospect of only having a couple of weeks to be stage-ready I responded in all seriousness.
“I know. And we are! But we get through it,” she laughed out loud.
“You’ve got about ten days to put this on which isn’t long. However, if someone goes wrong on stage the audience become part of it and helps them out. That for me is one of the lovely things about pantomime audiences. They become part of the show. And they love it.”
While Vicki Michelle is best known for her television roles, including her iconic part as waitress Yvette Carte-blanche in the sitcom favourite Allo, Allo, she has also appeared in many other TV and stage incarnations. She played Patricia Foster in Emmerdale, the neighbour in Noel’s House Party and Mrs Hannigan in the touring production of Annie.
A wonderful CV of credits that many in her profession would positively envy.
“Well thank you, Jeffrey. The whole thing is you don’t know from day to day what’s going to happen in this business. And that’s the joy of acting. But it’s also the downside as well. It’s one of the most difficult professions in the world. Ninety per cent of the actors and actresses are out of work at any one time so you’re very lucky to be working at all. I count myself very lucky indeed,” the funny and chatty actress said modestly.
“People say
what’s your favourite genre and I say ‘all of it’. It’s wonderful that I’ve sustained such a long career. I feel well and truly blessed. I’m very lucky.”
It’s fair to say that the ratingswinning sitcom Allo, Allo catapulted her to fame. Does Vicki have happy memories of being in the hit show which originally aired on the BBC from 1982 to 1992?
“Oh yes I have. It was such a fun show to do. I enjoyed it very much. And my character Yvette was a joy to play. Everything about Allo, Allo was good. The script was so well-written and the characters in it were wonderful. It had such a very good cast as well. A great team worked on it. We all had great fun making it,” Vicki remembered nostalgically. “Of course Allo, Allo is back on the television and I still find it funny. I think with all the things going on in the world people need a laugh. Just look at the news. It’s so depressing yet some people are trying to stop fun, family shows like Allo Allo being shown. You know Jeffrey I don’t do depressed. If those people don’t like it they don’t have to watch it. But please let the rest of us enjoy things that are funny and which make us laugh. It’s really schoolboytype humour. It’s not in the least offensive. It’s a very funny comedy,” Vicki insisted.
■ Sleeping Beauty is playing The Playhouse Theatre, Westonsuper-mare from December 10 to 31. Tickets can be booked on 01934 645 544 and on line at www. theplayhouse. co.uk