This year the Empire theatre in Liverpool have pulled out all the stops to provide families, couples and any one who just wants the chance to relieve childhood by booing loudly at the villain of the piece at this year’s Pantomime. The line up who will be donning the tights and slapping thighs will include the versatile Les Dennis whose C.V. reads like a catalogue of comedy characters, Atomic Kitten member Natasha Hamilton as Peter Pan and the legend that is the Fonz from Happy Days: Henry Winkler.

I caught up with two of the stars of the pantomime at the Empire, Les Dennis who will play the pantomime dame character and Natasha Hamilton

 

Hi Les, it’s great to have you back in Liverpool!

Its great to be back, yeah, I’ve been here quite a lot this year, panto last year and the play at the Playhouse this year – When We Were Married – great play. It was great to do, we started out at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and then came here and its always been an ambition of mine to do panto at the Empire and its always been an ambition to a play at the Playhouse. Although I’d done ’Art’ before that was part of a tour, this was a Playhouse co-production with the West Yorkshire Playhouse so that was great to do.

A bit of a different mix with the actors this time around!

Yes! I keep on moving from one job to another, so diverse! At the moment, I’m doing ‘High School Musical II’ the stage show, so then we come here and do this show with Henry and Natasha so I think it be a really good…. I mean last year was a great panto, it set the benchmark so we’ve got to improve on that and I think we’ve got a great cast and a wonderful piece.

It looks like it’s going to be a good night out!

It’s a big theatre to fill, you’ve got to get word of mouth going as well. I’ve not worked with Henry Winkler before but I’ve met him a few times at the panto launches over the past couple of years and also met him when he was playing Captain Hook with Bobby Davro, I saw the production, that was the first year he came over, that was in Wimbledon. Funnily enough, it was going to see that show and seeing Bobby on stage, it got me thinking that it was years since I’d done panto and I fancied having a crack at it again. So over the last couple of years I have done.

Is there anything that you haven’t done that you want to do?

I haven’t done Shakespeare yet so that’s maybe one ambition to get my teeth stuck into in the future, the comic roles in Shakespeare.

I can see you as a touchstone…

Yeah! I think I got an enquiry about doing Bottom this year but I couldn’t do it because I was already booked.

Was that down in Stratford?

No, it wasn’t at Stratford, it was – can’t remember where it was actually! My agent just said you’d been asked but I couldn’t do it at the time.

What do you think of Liverpool now as a city?

I think it’s fantastic, you know, I did a show for Granada Television last year called ’Les Dennis’s Liverpool’ and I got to look at the city’s cultural heritage – looking at theatre, looking at the arts generally and being right in the midst of that year as we got to grips with Capital of Culture and I think we’ve risen to the occasion and it looks like that’s just the start of it. I believe we are still number three in the tourist attractions in Britain, which is great.

I’m not actually from Liverpool myself, even though I’ve only been here six years, I’ve really taken to the city!

It’s a very welcoming city, I think you know whether you’ve lived here before or not, people are very welcoming to people here and you kind of feel very natural and really at home straightaway.

So you’ve got a few more ambitions left! What about in Liverpool itself?

I’d just like to see us really take what we’ve got here and move forward with it. I know there’s a campaign for the World Cup to come to Liverpool to have the city to do some of the hosting for that would be a fantastic achievement if we got that.

Are you a big football fan?

I’m a Liverpool fan! I don’t get to see matches much, last year when I came to do panto I thought “great I’ll be able to see some of the games” but I forgot that we work on a Saturday and the Sunday so there was actually no chance of seeing anything! Midweek games – no as we were doing performances so we usually had Mondays off so I went to see the last game of the season which was Liverpool vs. Tottenham this year and that was the last game I saw.

One more question – is there any advice you could give to students at the University?

I never went to university so I don’t think they can get much from my advice except to say to go for your dream and try to get whatever you want from this life, anything is achievable. I wanted to do what I’m doing and I’m a working class lad and I didn’t’ think when I was a kid that I’d have the chance. If you work at it and believe and really push forward you can do anything.

Following on from Les’s wonderful answers I asked Natasha about her feeling about playing Peter Pan and took the chance to ask about a possible Atomic Kitten reunion.

How are you doing?

I’m doing really well, getting excited now. I’m feeling festive now and getting into the panto frame of mind.

Not bad for the end of September!

I’m a bit nervous because its my first panto. The last time I had to learn a script was when I was in a school play.

I saw your piece the other day about school plays…

I know I can do it and once when all the cast is together and we start with the banter and having a laugh the nerves will go but then I’ve met Les before and he’s such a big name but you’ve got Henry Winkler – The Fonz – I mean he’s a legend – a Hollywood actor who’s going to be onstage with me!

I think they repeated all of ’Happy Days’ when I was younger and I used to watch it after school The Fonz was the cool one and funny. I always took a shine to The Fonz. I liked that little air of danger and just to think I’m going to be sword-fighting him and I’m going to defeat him is great! My costume holds a harness and I’ll be up and down, flying everywhere. I’ve never been in a harness and I’m a little bit scared of heights as well. At least I’ll get to conquer my fear. Its something I’ve got to do and I’m really excited.

The kids are ecstatic – they can’t believe I’m going to be Peter Pan. They couldn’t understand it at first because Peter Pan’s a boy so I explained that in panto, boys play girls and girls play boys and then they asked why and I said I don’t’ know! They just do! They are going to watch it, definitely every weekend and maybe when they’ve finished school, every night depending on how much they like it. Its up to them. They are seven and four so Harry’s four, it was Josh’s seventh birthday recently and I took him and his friends out to the park and looking the size of them climbing trees, it brought a lump to my throat – you know, where’s the time gone? Its great with Harry as he’s at that age as he’ll think I’ve been sprinkled with magic powers for a couple of weeks. I’ll be coming home and he’ll ask me to fly up the stairs – oh I’m too tired!

For Liverpool this is quite a big thing having you, Les and Henry here, and everything that happened here last year, do you think it’s going to be more inclusive?

Yeah, I mean last year you had Les, Cilla Black, Jennifer Ellison but the first family panto, I think it was the number one panto in the country last year. So we’ve got a lot to live up to but I mean the story that we’ve got to act out is one of the greatest stories really especially for kids as Peter Pan starts out just like boring old Liverpool or boring old London but then its transformed into this magical world where the kids rule the roost and they can do what they want to do and in a kid’s mind that’s exactly what they want to do, how much fun is that?

Kids will be joining in and also on stage all the children are going to be played by Liverpudlian kids, Scousers or children from the North West. Robinsons the drinks firm have launched ’Search for a Star’ auditions and they’ll be here with auditions for anyone who wants to come along. So its going to be a big Scouse extravaganza with a bit of Hollywood as well with me in the middle!

It’s a great chance for the kids, Bugsy Malone here recently was brilliant…

Its great! Because I when I was a kid, growing up, I just went to normal school, but I love singing and dancing and now a lot of children go to theatre school to go on stage but if you go to normal school you don’t. So this is a great opportunity for all those kids who just go home every night, singing into the hair brush to be in a professional production, be on stage with a great cast. I still sing in the shower, getting my hair done always at it. Its just a great chance for the kids just to be on stage. Touch wood, it will all go well.

How do you feel about Liverpool these days, especially with the Capital of Culture last year?

I love it! I mean when I was 16 I moved to London when the whole Atomic Kitten thing started but I moved back home about four years ago and I count’ imagine me living anywhere else. My kids are in school here, they love it. With me and my husband, we’ve opened businesses here, we’ve a restaurant in the Met Quarter, we’ve to coffee shops, bars scattered around the city.

I just love it with a passion and the people are so friendly. I’ve got a lot of friends from outside Liverpool and everytine they come up, there is no place on earth where you can go out for a drink or for a meal where the people at the table next to you will go “how are you? Where are you from, that accent’s not from around here? “ Everyone is so genuine and generous even. Liverpool was recently voted the most generous city in the UK, that’s why the World Vision charity came to Liverpool because Scousers support more charities than any other city in the world.

Its just the city has a great buzz and great heritage as well. You walk around when you have time to look out of your window, the buildings that you have to look at, they are just steeped in history. I love it, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Do you think Atomic Kitten will tour again?

Never say never! Look at Bananarama, aren’t they on their third reform? They’ve go an album out and everything. Do you know what, we’ve done a load of charity things and we do still do the occasional gigs but we’re just friends now doing our own things, plus me and Jenny are mums now and right now its not right for all of us but never say never!

Who knows? Maybe five or ten years down the line we could record a comeback album you never know! I feel like I’m getting older, I was taking the kids out for that birthday trip I saw all the nursery carers are like my age and I heard one of them ask one of the children to come up to me ask was I in Atomic Kitten? The little boy shouted “were you in Atomic Kitten?” and I answered yeah and he then asked “What’s Atomic Kitten?” So I said you weren’t even born when Atomic Kitten were out and I just felt so old! Oh my goodness, the years are just flying by me too fast! Its mad!

Ian D. Hall