Sorry, I haven't been blogging for a while. I've actually taken a 6 month hiatus from my PhD studies, but I restarted again at the start of this month. I don't like to whinge - but I ended up having to write 5 plays in a year and the workload was getting on top of me. However, I'm back, and just as opinionated as ever. HOORAY! So buckle in, you're in for a treat.
In case you just missed it, last Sunday was the UK Pantomime Awards.
What am I talking about? Of course you didn't miss it! It's the one event in everyone's calendar that everyone who's anyone has booked out a year in advance. Particularly this year - it's not often you have a good excuse to go to Woking.
We had a great time! Not only was it great to meet up as an industry and celebrate the art form, it was nice to see old friends, as well as some new faces... we even saw some new faces on some very old friends. And very good they looked too!
Great choice of hosts!
Dave Benson Phillips I've met before. In fact, Will and I won Get Your Own Back Live at the Edinburgh Fringe a few years back and got to gunge some unfortunate couple who simply were not nearly as quick as us at putting a cover on a duvet. More fool them. I imagine Dave still mentions our win from time to time, but unfortunately, on this occasion, I didn't have opportunity to ask him about it. There once was a rumour going round the North West pantomime circles that Dave Benson Phillips was related to panto producer Anton Benson, which may or may not be true... I do feel safe in publicly quashing the rumour that they are front for Benson Beds, which has previously been the most far-fetched and delightful rumour anyone's attempted to foist onto me. (OMG, if I get fact checked and that is actually true, I will eat my mattress.)
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| Kids TV Legend, Dave Benson Phillips Owner-Operator of a Mystical Magical Waistcoat |
The second host - Elaine C Smith - is definitely one of my favourite comedy actors. If you're as old as me, you'll probably first have seen her on Rab C Nesbitt, but if I had to pick my favourite TV performance of hers it would be Christine in Two Doors Down (a part for which she deservedly won a Scottish BAFTA). Honestly, until you have seen her rendition of Delaney's Donkey, you haven't lived. We wept with laughter! (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000qs3k/two-doors-down-christmas-special around the 14min mark. Thank me later). As of last Sunday, Elaine can now also add to her many accolades, the UKPA award for Outstanding Achievement in Pantomime. AND WELL DESERVED IT IS TOO! For those of you not in the know, Elaine has for many years been one of Scotland's most successful pantomime Dames. Yes, a woman can play Dame! Yes, you can share your own dissenting opinion in the comment section on Facebook. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. But not everyone's entitled to a UKPA award for Outstanding Achievement in Pantomime. Elaine C Smith is!
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| Elaine C Smith at the UK Panto Awards Performing her 3rd encore of Delaney's Donkey |
The third host was the wonderful La Voix. Up our way, La Voix is an institution - deservedly so... I have rarely met a performer so bloomin' fantastic on stage who is every bit as charming, kind and charismatic once all the make-up comes off. Another thing I love about La Voix is how quick-witted she is, particularly off-the-cuff, particularly dealing with hecklers. It was therefore a delight to see her shooting back put-downs at some plonker who was heckling her from seat J3. Exactly what they were heckling, I can't remember. Whatever it was, it must have been funny - the dashing chap in the yellow suit from the Colchester Mercury panto was certainly laughing. However, I can, with some confidence tell you all why they were heckling - because I had snaffled 3 glasses of wine at the Howdens Insurance RSVP reception, and dagnammit... I wanted to heckle. (It is the pantomime awards after all.)
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| Legend in Saddleworth and beyond, La Voix shortly before putting on wig and make-up |
Incidentally, I did quite enjoy the Howden's reception. I had quite a lot to of questions about insurance as I now also apparently run the UK's largest inter-theatre hire site (www.pursuedbybear.co.uk). I also LOVED meeting the wonderful team from Regal Entertainment in St Helens. What a smashing bunch of people, with very fabulous outfits. And they're Northern and totally down to Earth, so at least four hundred bonus points there.
If you allow me to go off-piste slightly here, I'd like to make a quick rant about how nice it is to meet people who are down to Earth. It's a quality all of us could usefully hone. Particularly panto people. Let's all get real for a moment: we're cross-dressing, singing and dancing, audience loving, applause seeking artisans - not royalty. Surely we should be able to talk to each other without the other person looking over our shoulder in case someone more famous should arrive. (Seemingly, it's often the most celebrated people who seem to be the most generous with their attention - and if I don't say it here, I won't say it: OMG, I love Eric Potts. What a lovely man, who always makes time for people, wherever they are in the industry).
We were at the awards in support of one of our wonderful Lighting Designers: Matthew Hodgkiss, who designed and lit Rumpelstiltskin at The Met, Bury. Matthew was nominated for Best Newcomer to the Industry - which he totally deserved... what a fantastic job he did... And fresh out of graduating from uni! (I know techies are in short supply since Covid, so you better believe I got him in contract before I lauded him in this blogpost). Unfortunately, this time, Matthew didn't win, but (I think) he was the only techie to even be nominated for this category, which in my book is its own kind of win. Plus, he's an absolutely smashing fellow, which makes him a winner in life.
Unfortunately, during the interval I learned that my friend had died, so I actually spent the second half of the awards on the phone with his wife. The heckling stopped.
However, despite not seeing the evening through, I still have some FIRM opinions about the event, and generally about the awards (of course I do), which I will now list below in the order in which I remember them. I hope they inspire any combination of outrage, delight, reflection and comments, but most of all, FB shares because I haven't blogged for 6 months, and I really need to get my views back up.
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| Woking, City of Culture 1438 |
1. Woking. TBF the theatre was lovely. But, I mean... Woking. OK, it's not Slough. But it's not Guildford either. Even then, Guildford's not London... and let's be honest. London is hardly Manchester. I'm not saying the next awards have to be in Manchester, but can they be somewhere that's not the Home Counties? It is the UK panto awards after all, and the country extends beyond Surrey. OK - I'm being facetious for comic effect here, but honestly, it is expensive to travel your team down, hotel rooms, dinners etc. and that's before factoring in the cost of having Will's new suit fitted. (totally worth it... picture below). Additionally, we're not such a huge industry, I for one would love to play host to our friends at the next party... or to go visit our friends in the Midlands, or North East, or (can you imagine: even in...) Wales or Scotland. Something to think about.
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| What a lovely suit, William! Even though I saw it first, and it should have been mine. |
2. More information - I love the big old projection screen on the stage - but (if I remember correctly) last year I think the names of the nominees were also accompanied by the shows, theatres and companies that they worked with. I'm only one punter, but I really like that format. It's nice to see where everyone's come from, and who's doing things to look out for. Can this be reinstated? Ooh - and maybe also, we could have pictures to see what the shows looked like. Did we have that in the Trafalgar Theatre in 2023? I think we might have done, and I loved it - or we didn't, and I imagined it... either way, I think it's a splendid idea.
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| The programme from 2023 told us a bit about the nominees. e.g. Ben Richards nominated for best script Robin Hood |
3. Signposting - The UKPA is vanguarding evolution within the industry. I know from the comments under previous blogs, some people have a few grumbles about that, but honestly, I think it's fair enough - the industry does need to change to keep up, plus, unless you're prepared to set up your own rival panto awards, I'm discounting your grumble by 90%. I think the approach is particularly successful when awarding specific practice that the organisation is seeking to foster: e.g. the award for inclusive practice (honestly, the award I most aspire to one day achieve), or the award for pantomime history, tradition and heritage. Also, IMHO, only one tiny tweak away from perfection is the award for innovation (yes, please! We need innovation) - my tweak would be: when awarding the title, to name what innovation was made - e.g. innovation in transgender casting, or innovation in special effects etc... this would better signpost the values the organisation's promoting (both to panto insiders, as well as the general public).
4. Exposition - I'm willing to bet I see more pantos than most (the curse/delight of professional research), and even I feel at sea faced with all the companies, theatres and shows represented at the awards. I'm not really sure how UKPA might achieve this - but what this punter, sample-size-of-one, would quite like is some background info. Tell me: what made these five pairs of sisters so brilliant, what made the judges go mad for these costume designs! Pantomime isn't the Oscars - we haven't all seen everyone else's shows... (I imagine because we were all far too knackered during December). Not only would a little bit of exposition titilate nosey parkers like me, but importantly it would help spread best practice, better promulgating the aims of the UKPA as well as providing a window into the industry through which media-bods and the like could watch the wheels of change as they turn.
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| The turning wheels of the panto industry Alex - I know this is your image, but I'm hoping we're friends enough for me to use it?! |
That's my twopennethworth. If you want to know why I'm wrong, please read the comments below.
