With Christmas just around the corner, the magical family adventure Aladdin is now open and once again stars audience favourite Kev Johns who is fast approaching 30 years of treading the boards in panto at the Grand.
We caught up with Kev to find out what a ‘normal’ day is like during panto season for Swansea’s legendary dame!
7:00 a.m. Rise and Shine
My wake-up call is 7am. To be honest it’s a bit hard for me to believe I’m now an early riser. Back in college, I was always the last to get out of bed! These days, I like to get up early, I check the news, enjoy my breakfast, and then it’s on with the day…
7.30am. On the Road
I like to leave early as I’m always wary of traffic and I hate the idea of getting stuck and being late even though I only live a few miles away from the theatre. Also, I actually LOVE my dressing room and make it’ home’ for the season, so getting in early suits me fine. For a 10am show I like to be in the theatre just after 8am.
8:30 a.m. A festive wander
If I do arrive early, I love nothing more than a walk around town, soaking up the atmosphere. I love Swansea all the time, but I particularly love it at Christmas. I’ll take the chance to pop into the Market and pick up my cockles and lava bread (you can’t be a Welsh dame unless you enjoy cockles and lava bread – it’s a staple part of the panto diet!).
I’ve been lucky enough to perform in panto in Swansea for most of my career, so a lot of people know me and I like to stop and chat to them. Everybody you see in the city talks about the panto… if they’ve seen it, when they’ll see it, what their favourite bit is! Its brilliant so it can take me quite some time to get through town!
9:00 a.m. Getting into character
Panto is my one chance in the year to be ‘glamorous’ my makeup kit is bigger than my wife and daughters put together! After all these years I’m actually pretty quick at getting my ‘face’ on – shattering the myth that ladies need a long time to get ready. But then I am a natural beauty!
9:30am Dressed to impress
On a three-show day, if we’ve got a 10 a.m. performance I like to be in costume early. The wardrobe team is brilliant, But I try to do as much as I can myself before my dresser knocks. Costumes this year are incredible. My opening number is Barry Manilow’s Copacabana “yellow feathers in my hair”… it’s very Carmen Miranda. For someone who outside of panto usually wears football gear and Doc Martens, stepping out in these costumes always gets a brilliant reaction just in itself!
I have so many different costumes and I have a little area in the wings where I do my quick changes some of which are lightning fast. Each costume has been lovingly crafted and I love to give each one it’s moment.
Funnily enough I don’t struggle with heels. I’m surprisingly natural in them. They wouldn’t let me onto the football pitch in them, mind you! But they’re part of the transformation, and I enjoy that moment when the look comes together.
10:00am – SHOWTIME
Before I go on stage, I always take a quiet moment to focus. Even after all these years and I’ve been doing pantomime since 1992 (not just at the Grand but all over) there’s still that little bit of fear. I think once you lose that, you lose your edge. You can’t be too confident. I always remember an old producer telling us, “It might be your last show of the season, but for the audience, it’s their first.” Every single performance is unique; things happen in panto that don’t happen in any other show, and you have to give 100% every time. I can forgive many things, but never ‘walking it’. You have to be warm, committed, and generous in every performance. And for me, that starts with taking a moment to focus and say a little prayer before I go on – that’s really important to me.
The show itself is a mixture of magic and mayhem – everyone is different and every time I walk onto stage at the grand it’s like a dream come true for me because that’s the theatre, I grew up watching Panto. And you know, the saying is true, there’s no place like home and there is NOTHING like performing in panto. It’s just magical.
12.30pm – A quick break
Some days we have three shows others its two, but I tend to stay in the theatre and don’t see the outside again til I leave! I’ll probably eat my lava bread and cockles and relax with a bit of telly. On days like Christmas Eve, when we have a 1 p.m. and a 5 p.m. show, I love a quick wander around town. Grab tea, say hello to people, feel the festive buzz. Sometimes I’ll pop out through the front of house just to hear the chatter about the show. Or I just look out to the empty auditorium – it’s such a beautiful theatre!
2pm – We’ll have to do it again then won’t we!
We are off again! The orchestra strikes up and I’m ready to meet a whole new lot of friends. I love to see the theatre full of children, parents, grandchildren, sometimes four generations. of a family, watching a show together, knowing that this could be the start of their love of theatre and what will keep the industry going. That gives you all the energy you need to do the shows. I’m quite annoyingly energetic but maybe that’s because I love life and I love what I do.
10:00 p.m. – Heading Home in Glitter
Even after a good wash there’s always a little leftover sparkle around my eyes, so I have extra glam on for Christmas My wife just looks at me and tuts. But it feels right. A bit of magic from the Grand!
Alongside panto legend Joe Pasquale and Welsh songbird Celyn Cartwright you can join Kev on a magic carpet ride you won’t want to miss to miss. visit swanseagrand.co.uk for more.
