JADAR

It’s panto season! This year, Opera House Manchester is celebrating the festive season with Jack and the Beanstalk, with Manchester legend Jason Manford returning for a second consecutive year, alongside mainstay Ben Nickless. Also in the cast are drag queen Myra Dubois and West End performers Samara Casteallo and 4 x Olivier Award nominee Emma Williams.

Ahead of the panto’s premiere, we were invited to a press day to speak with Ben and Emma – who were already in costume!

Katie: So what’s the show about and who are your characters?

Emma: “So my name’s Emma Williams. I play Princess Jill in Jack and the Beanstalk. Obviously, Jack and Jill. I assume I am the love interest.”

Ben: “No, that’s me! [Laughs]. I am Ben Nickless, and I am playing Silly Simon this year, which is Jack’s brother, which we’re very excited about. Great show. We’ve got loads of special effects, great costumes, great scenery, a wonderful cast; there’s a cow that I believe dances… We’ve got a beanstalks, we’ve got giants”

E: “Incredible songs. It’s going to be brilliant.”

B: “You’ve just got the best show coming to Manchester, and that’s the beauty. I mean, crossroads have been doing the pantomimes now for a few years, and each year they have to try and top what they did the previous year. So, the standards are so high, but I think they’ve done it again.”

K: Why do you think Jack and The Beans Stock lends itself well to pantomime?

E: “I think part of it is that it is a fairy tale that everybody knows and loves, and then it gives you enough to work around. There’s not many women in that original Grimm fairytale, I don’t think. But we have the lovely Myra DuBois as Mrs. Blunder, the Giant’s wife. And yeah, I think it’s just that classic good versus evil, isn’t it? Exactly. What makes for a great panto is a good villain and some great goodies.”

K: It’s funny, I actually remember growing up and seeing a pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk as well. It’s one of them that comes back every once in a while.

B: “Yes, it’s so good. The first one I saw was Jack in The Beanstalk too!”

E: “The first one that I danced in was Jack with Max Boyce. I was like six, but yeah, it’s one of those ones that comes back, the sort of classic titles that just keep coming back around, and this is one of the best.”

K: I think my school had a simple one with dress-up stuff and a little curtain that turned into different scenes. So it was simple but it was so good, and I think that’s where my love of pantomime comes from.

E: “That’s what I’m saying. It’s where kids start; that first experience that takes them from fairy story to stage, and yes, it’s brilliant.”

Did you go to a lot of pantomimes when you were younger? 

E: “Yes, yes. Every year, I danced in a lot as a kid, but also, I remember, I think I saw Sylvester McCoy and Garfield at the Manchester Palace, and my brother was taken onstage, and he had the poster that he won as a little prize on his wall for years. I was so jealous that my big brother got to go onstage and I didn’t. I must have been about four or five, and that sort of says how much those memories stick in your head. Oh yeah.”

B: “I remember it. I saw that one. It’s amazing. 1986 was my first Pantomime. It was Jack and the Beanstalk in Manchester with Russ Abbot, and Jack and The Beanstalk hasn’t been back here since… It’s the first time it’s been back which is incredible. But I remember seeing, I can’t remember the actual pantomimes, but I remember seeing Cannon and Ball, Michael Barrymore…

E: “I remember the night I saw it, one of them got stuck. They were playing the policeman, and one of them got stuck in the air hanging and swinging. Isn’t that mad that those memories are coming back?”

B: “But that’s what you always remember! You remember the bits that go wrong and how they recovered and got from it. And I guarantee when you come see this pantomime, something will go wrong! That is what Panto is all about. There is a story, obviously, but it’s the fun of the show. We just go out and have a laugh. And then obviously having Jason Manford and Myra in the show, it’s bound to have comedy galore.”

E: “I mean, I’m really spoiled as a cast member coming to a cast with three amazing comedians. I think that’s incredible. And that makes for a really special Christmas when you’ve got great comedy, but you’ve also got people doing great music as well and just… everything. Gracefully talented.”

B: “That’s the thing with Jason. He’s also got loads of songs in there as well that he will blast out. And I remember – it’s one of those things where he’s known as a comedian – but then everyone was like, ‘Wow, you’re actually a really good singer.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, but I am a comedian. Can you give me a bit of praise for the comedy as well?’”

“But yeah, he’s unbelievably talented and also incredibly generous as our star of the show, top of the bill. He’s happy just to let everybody have their own little moments as well. And we had such a laugh together last year that it was just a joy to get paid to watch Jason onstage because Jason is so funny that I was on there laughing at Jason at times. We just tried to make each other laugh and come off script, and that’s all. It’s just good fun. It is so good to be doing Pantomime in Manchester again. You’re in for a treat!”

Do you think being a comedian actually helps with pantomime?

E: “I think because you’re used to dealing potentially with hecklers and things like that, and because so much of panto feeds off an audience, you have to be able to work the audience around. I think being a comedian gives you some skills that other people don’t have.”

B: “Possibly, I think so. I’ve worked with actors in the past that don’t really ad-lib so they will say their lines, and if I ad-lib or if something does happen, say if anybody shouts something out and you have to react to it. I have to then give that actor a line to come back in. They won’t say anything until I deliver that line. Whereas, I’ve worked with actors that will naturally ad-lib and are just naturally funny people. So, I think it works both ways, but it probably does help being used to it every night, having somebody shouting stuff out. Not that it happens every night but I’ve got experience with it.”

And you’ve got quite a musical background as well Emma.

E: “Yeah, I mean I started in TV and film in Manchester hilariously, and then moved into theatre for some random reason. They went, ‘Oh, you can sing, there we go, off you go, love’. So yes, I sort of flip between them all but I think one of my primary loves will always be panto because it combines everything and it’s particularly magical. Christmas is my favourite time of year, and what better excuse to get dressed up in something fun and ridiculous, sing a big song on stage and have a lovely time, frankly?”

What have been your favourite career moments so far? 

B: “I suppose, obviously for me, doing panto in Manchester. Growing up, watching shows, musicals and stuff, and then I came in to do the pantomime in 2018, and it was Buttons in Cinderella – which is like the comic relief’s dream. And that Panto in particular was so magical and great fun, and fortunately they keep asking me back year after year. So to tell that kid back in the eighties that ‘One day, that’ll be you…’ It was definitely up there. And I suppose getting to the final on Britain’s got Talent last year was an amazing experience as well. But I’ve been very lucky and done some nice gigs.”

E: “I mean I’ve been really fortunate. I’ve done a lot of different stuff. I’ve mainly worked in new musicals. I’ve been very fortunate to have got some nominations for things, which has been lovely, including a Manchester Theatre Award nomination, which I’m really proud of because I think it’s really hard when you come in on a tour and go to somewhere and you kind of make your mark along a lot of the shows.

“In fact, the show that I brought here the first time was Anna Get Your Gun. And I got to do trapeze in the Opera House, which was so much fun. Learning how to fire a gun on a trapeze upside down, swinging from the rafters of the Opera House. I think what I like about this industry is the fact that you’re always doing something a little bit different and you’re always learning something new. So, more of that. Just more of that.”

B: “We’re very lucky to be doing a job which for us is a hobby that we get paid for. I would say that’s how lucky we are because a lot of people go to that nine to five but our job is to cheer you up and take your mind away from whatever’s happening in your life or in the world so that you can just have two hours – especially in pantomime where anything can happen.”

So, have you started rehearsing yet?

B: “No. We don’t rehearse. We open and that’s it. We just go out there a[see] what happens with a story! No, but really…”

E: “The show you see on the first night is very different to the show you see on the last night. So come several times!”

B: “I have family and friends and they’re like: ‘Oh, we’ll come and watch it.’ But I say, ‘Don’t come at the beginning; come at the end because it’s a different show and there’s so much stuff that does happen and change as we add things in. Especially when you’ve got three comics in the show: something will happen on Thursday night after we open, and then that stays in, and then something will happen Tuesday the following week that will then stay in. So, you’d never get the same show twice with pantomime. But it’s just a joy and a dream.

“You do work hard. Jason said that last year came in, and he’d done the musicals and that, but then you do pantomime, it’s two shows a day everyday as well. He got one day off a week; he’s like: ;I can’t do this every year. I don’t know you do this every year’. And then he was even ending the show saying, ‘Hello, welcome to my farewell debut’, making it out like, ‘I won’t be doing this again’. But then he was like, ‘Actually, I might do it every four years’, because the World Cup was on last year during Panto, so he was watching matches in between shows and said, ‘Actually, I might do one every four years’. But then suddenly by January he signed up to do the next one. You get the bug.”

E: “Yeah, you definitely do. Where do I want to go next year? Who’s doing what, where and when? Which princess can I do next… Cinders? I’d love to do a Cinders though. I’ve done an Alice… I like a Snow White as well. Goldilocks is a new one now too. It’s like ticking them all off now so I can get my daughter to get to see all of them and see mummy doing that – getting very confused.”

Have you got any other hobbies outside of pantomime, theatre and comedy?

B: “Hobbies? I think we’re both going to be in similar in this, that we’ve both now got children in our life.”

E: “Hobbies don’t really exist anymore!”

B: “Sleeping is my hobby. I could get a four-hour kip; I’d be well happy. But yeah, I’m a big football fan. I do enjoy watching football but I just want to chill these days. I don’t want to give our age away, but as you get to an age, it’s like, I just want to sleep and just sit in front of the tub.”

E: “Are we going to be having that parents’ nap club between shows?!”

B: “I’ve got to that point! I have a nap in between shows. I go out, I’ve something to eat and come back and try and get half an hour. And this year more than ever, I will definitely be doing that.”

E: “I’m a runner. I was a runner. I try and be a runner when I get a chance. I’m a runner.”

B: “I’m not a runner; I’m a sleeper! That’s my hobby. You know what I’ve said that I do need to go back to the gym, and having to putting this costume on everyday, which we took out of the back and pinned me in. I definitely do need to go to the gym.”

E: “I’ve been sewn into mine. I’ve literally been sewn down the side. Everything’s squished into areas it shouldn’t be. I’m going to be chopped out. I’m not even kidding!

“But yeah, hobbies… I mean, I write. I am a writer so when I get chance I try and do some writing, but when you are home and in the thick of parenting, it’s like, do whatever you need to survive!”

You can catch Ben Nickless and Emma Williams in Jack and the Beanstalk, which began its run at Opera House Manchester on December 2 and runs until December 31.