Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Leon aka Dame Daisy Dollop in action!

There's more to being a panto dame in Wakefield in 2007 than big wigs, big skirts and a big voice - but they all help! Leon Craig has them all and he's currently wowing the audiences at the Theatre Royal as Dame Daisy Dollop. How do we know that Leon's take on the traditional panto dame's proving a hit? Well, just stand outside the auditorium as Jack and the Beanstalk reaches its crescendo and the screams and shouts of hundreds of happy kids tell their own story. And, says Leon, it's the story that's the important thing to get everyone in festive mood, with a little help from Dame Daisy: "She's Jack and Jill's mother. We're very poor and we live on an island called Far Flung. Jack's got his head in his books, a bit of a dreamer, and Jill's very much a tomboy - she always looks after Jack. He goes on an adventure and we all follow him on an adventure in Far Flung. It's madness on the way! We've got everything from spiders to pirates to falling off the plank to the beanstalk growing to being on a ship. It's hectic but amazing fun."

Leon gets 'em smiling in Wakefield!

We catch Leon between shows, minus the big skirts but with all his gloriously glittery stage make-up well and truly in place! He's obviously enjoying the experience of playing Dame Daisy Dollop, the latest in a long tradition of dames that goes back hundreds of years. Yet, says Leon, every performance is different and exciting in its own way - right from the very first minute: "When you see the whole audience in there and it's so full, it's great! What's nice about panto is that there's no 'fourth wall' so you get a chance to interact with the audience because they're so close, it's so intimate. It's a really nice feeling...as soon as the curtain goes up and the kids are screaming. Before that it's so quiet then suddenly you hear them getting all excited. I think that gets us in the spirit. On a weekend we have three shows and after the first one you get kind of tired, so when you get to the second and third shows what gives you the energy is the kids screaming. It's great!"

This is all a long way from another role Leon played quite recently: he starred in the (in)famous production of Jerry Springer The Opera which caused so much controversy a couple of years ago: "I did play Montel, Diaper Man and Jesus in Jerry Springer in the West End with David Soul and also for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ. That caused all the controversy, which is fabulous! That was a lot of fun...It was a fantastic show and it was one of the first jobs out out of drama school when I was 21 so it was nice to stand on stage in just a nappy and then be Jesus in a nice loincloth in the second half. I was really lucky to get that." Clearly it takes a true all-rounder to play a panto dame!

Leon and the cast get flying!

As panto dame, Leon also knows that he needs a good supporting cast to make sure the laughs (and screams) keep coming. He says he's been very lucky with this production: "It's a nice small family. Everybody gets on with each other." And, we assume that off-stage he might even get on well with his on-stage enemy, Captain Fleshcreep, played by Grant Neal: "He's a REALLY good baddie actually. As soon as he walks on stage they automatically know he's the baddie. He's kind of like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. They boo and hiss and he absolutely loves it. The kids scream the house down!"