Did COVID curse panto? Oh no it didn’t!
Behind-the-scenes
Panto is my absolute favourite time of the year, hands down.
I genuinely LOVE the whole thing from start to end - the rigorous 12 hour rehearsal days where you do the same songs over and over and over again, the lunchtime escapades to go and buy an overpriced sandwich from somewhere round the corner, the smell of the dry ice machine in the wings. It’s MAGIC, it’s exhausting, and it’s brilliant.
I was absolutely gutted when I found out Panto was cancelled last year, but was lucky enough to be asked to play Mother Gothel in NTS’ production of Rapunzel. I was told it was going to be filmed in Stirling castle, written by a team of female writers, pulling together some seriously talented creatives in Scotland. And I thought; that’s one way to make lemonade!
I have to admit, I was very nervous as I have never acted on screen before! Panto is my safe space - getting to make big faces and huge gestures and putting on silly voices is my idea of heaven, and I wasn’t sure how all of this would translate onto screen. We were also delivering monologues which is really different - it meant that I rehearsed on my own with our amazing director Johnny McKnight and didn’t have anyone to bounce off of. I had to trust myself and my own instincts, and it definitely felt like being thrown back into the deep end! Luckily, I like to swim.
When the day of filming came around, though, I realised that I really wasn’t alone. The crew were there, cheering me on, supporting me from a social distance, and bringing me hot water bottles (thank you!!). I realised then that THAT is what it’s all about for me- the teamwork. Everyone playing their part for a bigger thing. The buzz comes from the people.
We had such a fun time filming. We even had 10 minutes left at the end once we had officially wrapped, so Johnny gave me a green ribbon and told me to just dance about however I wanted. When I watched it back, I was shocked to see that a lot of the ribbon dancing made it in to the final cut!! That’s what I love about working with Johnny, he just lets you loose and encourages you to make bold choices. Every time I asked him ‘was that too much?’ the reply would always be ‘NEVER. GIVE ME MORE!’. My original fears about being ‘too much’ for the screen were squashed from there.
At the end of my night of filming, at around midnight I got back to my hotel room and ate a pizza and thought ‘I’m really lucky to call that my job.’ I went to sleep with a full belly and a full heart, and I slept for about a week because I was so exhausted.
About two months later, a letter came through the post from a wee girl in Forres who had seen the film. In it, she wrote about how she and her mum sing Gothel’s song every night before bed.
It may not have been the Panto experience I was used to, but it may have been just as special.