No custard pies, no big casts but so much more needed

Richard Franks is relishing the prospect of almost certainly the most significant panto of his career.

Yes, it is going to be different. Yes, there are going to be plenty of rules and regulations to abide by.

But perhaps the most important thing is that it is happening – pantomime at The Hawth in Crawley this Christmas.

Dame Dolly Saves Panto runs from Friday, December 18-Sunday, January 3, from the pen of Paul Hendy, writer, producer and director with Evolution Productions.

Richard knows it is going to be very welcome for so many people.

“I think this year has been so tough for lots and lots of people, and this is going to be a chance to have some enjoyment, to have some fun and just forget for a bit the dark and tricky times that we have been going through.

“It does feel significant, really significant – to be able to offer some joy this Christmas.

“It is going to be a smaller bite-sized panto. It is going to be socially distanced and I highly suspect we are going to be socially distanced on stage. And there will be things we can’t do.

“There will be no slosh routines – anything that involves cream or custard pies or excessive water. You can imagine that if we are slipping and sliding around, we are not going to be able to stay far enough away from each other. There is going to be none of that this year!

“And the length of the show has changed. This is going to be 70 minutes all the way through, no interval – so that there are fewer chances for people to get up and move around.”

And it is going to be a reduced cast of just five: comedian, dame, principal girl, baddie and fairy.

“It is a really nice story that they have cooked up. The principal girl steps up as the hero.

“It is a new story, a simpler, smaller story, but basically it will be all the best bits of panto, all the greatest hits, all the bits that people know and love and want to see.”

Speaking before rehearsals began, Richard said emails were coming in daily, detailing the regulations, spelling out just what is going to be possible and what won’t be.

“But I just feel so humble and so grateful. This year there are so many performers who are not able to do pantomime, so many actors who are out of work. I am just hugely appreciative that this is happening.”

It will be his fourth Crawley panto on the trot – and comes at the end, inevitably, of a difficult year, but not one without its rewards.

“It has been a very different year to the one I was expecting.

“I did a new stand-up show in February in Crawley at the Hawth, and off the back of that I was going to tour the show as much as possible this year.

“And, of course, none of that happened. Everything changed dramatically.

“But this year I have been putting a lot of comedy sketches online. We have all been at home looking at the internet and social media, so I have been doing as much as I can, and it has been good fun. It has certainly kept me busy, and it has been really good to build an online audience.

“But like with everyone, there have been highs and there have been lows. I am used to being on stage. I am used to performing. And I have certainly had low days where I have been thinking ‘How on earth are we going to get out of this? What on earth is the industry going to be like when we do get out of all this?’

“And that’s one of the reasons I am so grateful to be doing panto in Crawley this year.”

Dame Dolly Saves Panto will be performed to a socially distanced audience; there will be fewer people than normal in the auditorium to ensure the appropriate distancing between audience members. Tickets are available at hawth. co.uk.