The ‘village idiot’, the singer and Phil Mitchell: Panto is in full swing at Dunstable’s Grove Theatre

Olivia Preston chatted with the stars of Jack and the Beanstalk ahead of their panto stint at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable for Christmas 2023.

Transcript

00:00To be back in Dunstable is, when they are off to be in Dunstable, I was delighted because

00:05the audiences last year were brilliant. Honestly, it was so loud. They turned up in their thousands

00:11and they laughed, they cheered, and it's such a lovely theatre here. And Steve, we've got Phil

00:16Mitchell. He's brilliant, he's lovely. I'm sitting having lunch with him. He's lovely.

00:21Well, it's a bit like running away with a circus, you know, you just kind of take off with this

00:26mad troop of crazy people that have got their specialist, you know, stuff that they're

00:34fantastic at. And it's very impressive to see, you know, dancers, singers,

00:40comics, and see them, you know, doing their craft. And I'm normally surrounded by very

00:49diligent actors trying to make it all believable. But these guys, it's a show, isn't it?

00:56Yeah, yeah, I'll get booed. I'm not here for the gags. I'm not trying to be loved.

01:05I'm here to be the baddie. I mean, you know, we all know it's often the first place that people,

01:12children see a theatre ever. So, you know, they probably don't know Phil Mitchell and

01:19my track record. So I'm here to drive home the baddie role.

01:24Well, there'll be lots of laughs, lots of glitter, lots of songs, and lots of me being bad.

01:34It's exciting. And, you know, you just don't get any feedback when you're doing TV. I mean,

01:43they just say, we're moving on, and that's it. But to hear the crowd,

01:46and the laughters, and the music, and it's very uplifting and fun.

01:54Very excited. I mean, it's my second year here at The Grave, so very excited. Second home for me.

01:59So I'm very happy to be back here at home, which is nice for Christmas. I mean, I love it. Panto

02:06is probably one of my favourite times of year. Even more so, like I said, being at home, because

02:11there's no travelling. I get to spend it with my family, and I get to go home every night. And it

02:15just makes it a little bit more special for me playing to a home audience, which is fun. They

02:19get the gags, and I kind of know the local area, so I can put my little two cents in all the funny

02:26gags about Houghton Regis and stuff. I'm really excited about my solo this year. I think also

02:33this year, for the last few years, I've played Prince Charming, which is quite a restrictive

02:39role, because you're not the comedian. You're playing the prince, and I wasn't on that much. I

02:44mean, the prince isn't the title role. So this year, to be playing Jack is really exciting to

02:50have a bit more of a script, a bit more comedy. And I'm really excited about my big solo. I've

02:56actually worked with Paul, our head of our company, in rewriting an incredible song and making the

03:02lyrics work. So I'm really, yeah, it's going to be a big thing, but I like a challenge.