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ProfilesYou are in: Bradford and West Yorkshire > People > Profiles > Playing the dame game in Wakefield! Playing the dame game in Wakefield!They say there ain't nothin' like a dame and when it comes to West Yorkshire's panto dames it really IS true! To find out more, we've been to Wakefield to meet Leon Craig, star of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Theatre Royal. He says: "It's madness!" Leon aka Dame Daisy Dollop in action! There's more to being a panto dame in Wakefield in 2007 than big wigs, big skirts and a big voice - but they all help! Leon Craig has them all and he's currently wowing the audiences at the Theatre Royal as Dame Daisy Dollop. How do we know that Leon's take on the traditional panto dame's proving a hit? Well, just stand outside the auditorium as Jack and the Beanstalk reaches its crescendo and the screams and shouts of hundreds of happy kids tell their own story. And, says Leon, it's the story that's the important thing to get everyone in festive mood, with a little help from Dame Daisy: "She's Jack and Jill's mother. We're very poor and we live on an island called Far Flung. Jack's got his head in his books, a bit of a dreamer, and Jill's very much a tomboy - she always looks after Jack. He goes on an adventure and we all follow him on an adventure in Far Flung. It's madness on the way! We've got everything from spiders to pirates to falling off the plank to the beanstalk growing to being on a ship. It's hectic but amazing fun." Leon gets 'em smiling in Wakefield! We catch Leon between shows, minus the big skirts but with all his gloriously glittery stage make-up well and truly in place! He's obviously enjoying the experience of playing Dame Daisy Dollop, the latest in a long tradition of dames that goes back hundreds of years. Yet, says Leon, every performance is different and exciting in its own way - right from the very first minute: "When you see the whole audience in there and it's so full, it's great! What's nice about panto is that there's no 'fourth wall' so you get a chance to interact with the audience because they're so close, it's so intimate. It's a really nice feeling...as soon as the curtain goes up and the kids are screaming. Before that it's so quiet then suddenly you hear them getting all excited. I think that gets us in the spirit. On a weekend we have three shows and after the first one you get kind of tired, so when you get to the second and third shows what gives you the energy is the kids screaming. It's great!" The other thing that makes a panto dame come alive is, of course, those fabulously outlandish costumes. And, says Leon, this year's Jack and the Beanstalk in Wakefield means he's got plenty of wardrobe options: "Everyone has some great costumes. Obviously the dame always has the most extrovert costumes. My first costume's a nice big cow costume, as we like to call it. I've got a cow in the panto, Semi Skimmed, who we have to sell because we're all very poor. Then there's a mermaid, a pirate costume and there's an angel costume. There's also a nice treat - I won't tell you what it is, so come and see it! The wigs are great, too. Jill, who's played by Lauren Appleby, dresses all my wigs for me and they're tremendous. So, there are some great costumes I wear. I like it but I get very hot under the lights and my make-up drips!" Want to hear what Dame Daisy Dollop sounds like in panto action? Click on the link below to get a right earful direct from Wakefield Theatre Royal!
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This is all a long way from another role Leon played quite recently: he starred in the (in)famous production of Jerry Springer The Opera which caused so much controversy a couple of years ago: "I did play Montel, Diaper Man and Jesus in Jerry Springer in the West End with David Soul and also for the 成人快手. That caused all the controversy, which is fabulous! That was a lot of fun...It was a fantastic show and it was one of the first jobs out out of drama school when I was 21 so it was nice to stand on stage in just a nappy and then be Jesus in a nice loincloth in the second half. I was really lucky to get that." Clearly it takes a true all-rounder to play a panto dame! No controversy in Wakefield, though, as the 2007-2008 run of Jack and the Beanstalk continues at the Theatre Royal! As Leon says, you can't beat playing a panto dame for 'meeting the audience' - perhaps they're the real stars of the show?: "It's lots of fun, interacting with the audience and ad-libbing, just being really energetic. The whole cast gets tired but you just have to find that energy from somewhere and everyone does as well...You need to make sure they're on your side in the panto because if they're not then it's really difficult to connect with the audience. If they are on your side then it's great." Leon and the cast get flying! As panto dame, Leon also knows that he needs a good supporting cast to make sure the laughs (and screams) keep coming. He says he's been very lucky with this production: "It's a nice small family. Everybody gets on with each other." And, we assume that off-stage he might even get on well with his on-stage enemy, Captain Fleshcreep, played by Grant Neal: "He's a REALLY good baddie actually. As soon as he walks on stage they automatically know he's the baddie. He's kind of like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. They boo and hiss and he absolutely loves it. The kids scream the house down!" So, like actors across West Yorkshire prove every year, Leon Craig proves there certainly ain't nuthin' like a dame. Whatever other roles may be on offer for the rest of the year, it seems that the chance to don those voluminous skirts, daub on plenty of slap and act silly is one that's just too good to miss! And for the audience - whether you're in Wakefield, Kirklees, Calderdale or Bradford - this time of year's your chance to join in with a long, venerable and LOUD tradition. Just remember: "He's behind YOU!" Jack and the Beanstalk continues at the Wakefield Theatre Royal until Sunday 6th January 2008.last updated: 20/05/2008 at 17:12 You are in: Bradford and West Yorkshire > People > Profiles > Playing the dame game in Wakefield! |
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