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What are York Stage pantomime fairy Livvy Evans’s wishes for 2021?

Walking in a winter wandland: Livvy Evans as Fairy Mary in Jack And The Beanstalk. Picture: Kirkpatrick Photography

LIVVY Evans is back home in York for the winter, playing Fairy Mary In York Stage’s pantomime, Jack And The Beanstalk.

Here she waves her magic wand at Charles Hutchinson’s quickfire questions.

What was the first pantomime you ever saw and what do you recall of it?

“First panto I can remember going to, I think, was Jack And The Beanstalk at the Grand Opera House, starring John Altman (Nasty Nick Cotton in EastEnders) as the baddie, I just remember him and being terrified!”

What was your first pantomime role?

“I played Happy the dwarf in Snow White at the Grand Opera House.”

What has been your favourite pantomime role?

“Princess Yasmin in Aladdin: my first professional job, also at the Grand Opera House. Playing Fairy Mary is shaping up to be a contender too!”

Who have you not yet played in pantomime that you would love to play?

“When I’m a bit older, I’d love to play the Wicked Queen. And, although traditionally male characters, I’ve always wanted to play a Buttons/Simple Simon-type character too.”

Who is your favourite pantomime performer and why?

“Being from York, I’d have to say Berwick Kaler, of course. His Dame is legendary!”

“Just feeling the excited presence of an audience is wonderful for us performers,” says Livvy Evans. Picture: Kirkpatrick Photography

This year’s pantomime will be an experience like no other…what are your expectations of performing a show in these strange circumstances?

“It will be strange at first, especially with the discouragement of vocal participation from the audience. However, I think they will get used to it very quickly, once they get engrossed in the magic. Just feeling the excited presence of an audience is wonderful for us performers.”

Which pantomime role should Boris Johnson play and why?

“Boris doesn’t have the skill set to be an actor. He can just carry on playing the part of ‘Bumbling fool No. 1’.”

Who or what has been the villain of 2020?

“There are definitely more than a handful of villains this year. For me, personally, it’s Rishi Sunak. His comments surrounding the ‘non-viability’ of actors were pretty low. I would love to see him last a week in my profession!”

Who or what has been the fairy of 2020?

“It’s definitely a toss-up between Captain Sir Tom Moore and Marcus Rashford. Both have done incredible, selfless things this year and it proves that a big old heart is all a true hero needs.”

How would you sum up 2020 in five words?

“Exceptionally strange yet surprisingly adaptable.”

Butterfly wings: Livvy Evans’s costume for Fairy Mary from behind. Picture: Kirkpatrick Photogrphy

What are your wishes for 2021?

“I hope that everyone stays safe and continues to treat each other with some of the kindness and compassion we discovered this year.”

What are your hopes for the world of theatre in 2021?

“I hope that the theatre industry gets back on its feet ASAP and that people support it as much as they can.”

York Stage presents Jack And The Beanstalk at Theatre @41 Monkgate, York, until January 3 2021.

Show times: December 28, 11am, 2pm (sold out) and 7pm (sold out); December 29, 2pm (sold out) and 7pm; December 30, 2pm (sold out) and 7pm; New Year’s Eve, December 31, 12 noon (sold out); January 2, 2pm (sold out) and 7pm; January 3, 1pm and 6pm.

Box office: online only at yorkstagepanto.com. Please note, audiences will be seated in household/support bubble groupings only. 

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“How do you fancy getting your dame on this Christmas, Alex?”. The answer is Yes!

Trott along now: Alex Weatherhill in all Dame Trott’s finery in York Stage’s pantomime Jack And The Beanstalk. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

ALEX Weatherhill took a call from York Stage artistic director Nik Briggs in the quietude of September.

“How do you fancy getting your dame on this Christmas,” asked Nik, having decided he would stage a pantomime at Theatre @ 41 Monkgate to close out a year blighted by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The sight of Alex in full dame attire and face paint at the October 30 photocall to launch Jack And The Beanstalk provided the answer to that request.

“Right now, I would normally be in Spain, as quite often I do a guest musical-directing spot for the Institute of Arts in Barcelona,” he said that autumn day. “I very luckily have managed to get on board to do projects there three times with their second and third-year students, then flying back to go straight into working on pantos.”

Alas, this accursed year has been different, however. No musical directing in Barcelona, nor his usual pantomime commitments for Paul Holman Associates. “I’ve been a musical director for Paul, including for pantomimes at The Carriageworks in Leeds, and then, four years ago, I made the move across to director,” says Alex.

“I directed the panto [at the Spotlight] in Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, for three years and I was due to direct Sleeping Beauty at The Harlequin Theatre in Redhill, Surrey, this winter until it was cancelled.”

Hence the September call from Nik Briggs, inviting him to make the journey from his home in Speeton, the easternmost village in North Yorkshire, on the cliff top between Filey and Bridlington, to be Dame Trott in Jack And The Beanstalk.

Alex Weatherhill, as Bernadette, right, with Joe Wawrzyniak, as Tick, left, and Jacob Husband, as Adam, front, in York Stage Musicals’ Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Musical, at the Grand Opera House, York., in September 2017. Picture: Benedict Tomlinson

“I would last have been on a York stage for York Stage Musicals in Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert,” says Alex, recalling his drag-queen role as Bernadette at the Grand Opera House. “It was so much fun to do, but very intense.”

He is no stranger to wearing women’s clothing on stage. “I’ve played a lot of middle-aged ladies: the number is probably running into double figures by now, so I suppose it was inevitable I would play dame one day,” says Alex.

“But I’d shied away from it, as it’s a role unto itself, particularly here in York, with all the history of Berwick Kaler’s shows, but now I’m looking forward to it, my first time as the dame, and any trepidation will go during rehearsals.”

Reflecting on past roles, Alex says: “Everything that I’ve done has been character acting, almost trying to fool the audience so they don’t know they’re watching a man playing a woman, starting with Mary Sunshine in Chicago, where there’s no drag element to it. You are there to trick the audience. The way of becoming a woman for that role is very different from playing the pantomime dame.”

Alex has been settling on his brand of dame “who happens to be in Jack And The Beanstalk this year”. “I’m drawing on Patricia Routledge, Maureen Lipman and Julie Walters as my influences, so Nik has been writing with those influences and mannerisms in mind, and they’ll come out in my voice and movements,” he says.

Routledge crossed with Lipman and Walters? What fabulous fun awaits!

York Stage presents Jack And The Beanstalk at Theatre @41 Monkgate, York, from December 11 to January 3; show times, Monday to Saturday, 2pm and 7pm; Sundays, 1pm and 6pm; Christmas Eve, 12 noon and 5pm; New Year’s Eve, 12 noon. Box office: online only at yorkstagepanto.com. Please note, audiences will be seated in household/support bubble groupings only. 

Jacob Husband, as Adam, front, Alex Weatherhill, as Bernadette, and Joe Wawrzyniak, as Tick, in York Stage Musicals’ Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Musical, at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Benedict Tomlinson.  September 2017