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.
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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.