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November 2003
The BBC Radio Stoke panto - Aladdin! | |
|  | | Moment of fame: Panto stars Ruth Alexander and Ramaa Sharma |
| | This year's BBC Radio Stoke panto was a one-off performance at the Stafford Gatehouse for the "Rascal" charitable appeal.
See the pictures and hear the full performance!
Radio Stoke producer Mary Fox was there to report... |
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| | So you work with a bunch of people for years and years and you think you know all there is to know about them - Oh No You Don't.
It takes just one pantomime to reveal hidden depths (some of which are quite murky); hidden talents (for want of a better word); secret dreams and ambitions (they should have listened to the careers master) and lots of stuff that maybe you only want to discover once a year.
Pantomime dame
 | Kevin Fernihough |
Take our Kevin Fernihough - on the surface, he's a popular, charming, witty and well respected Breakfast presenter. Shut him in a room with an outrageous frock, some rouge and some falsies ( and I'm not talking eyelashes here girls) and he'd give any self respecting panto dame a good run for their money. You could see the glint in his eyes once he was in costume - manic some might say, but he was such a convincing Widow Twankey that the staff have started to bring in their washing.
Ping and Pong
 | Jason and Becky |
Becky Bonell is a petite lass who generates warmth on her Sunday show on BBC Radio Stoke - she co-hosts it with Jonathan Fernyhough and we'll get to him later. Again let loose around a panto script and an audience Becky underwent the kind of metamorphosis rarely seen outside the caterpillar world - in a nutshell if they are ever considering a remake of Oliver they need look no further for a Bill Sykes such was her menacing Pong the Policeman. Ping was played by Jason Hardy who invested heavily in acting lessons this year to really "feel" the part.
Schoolboy antics
 | Den Siegertsz |
Now onto the word gusset - for years it's been making schoolboys snigger with delight and cry with laughter - so the appearance on stage of one Den Siegertsz with a gusset to die for (about three inches above his knees) made a few eyes misty - his role as Wishee Washee wasn't quite typecast.In every panto there's glamour - and apart from me and Jonathan Fernyhough - later later I said - Janine Machin was perfect as Aladdin in her thigh length boots and tiny shorts.
"When are you going to dress up for the panto Janine," asked those who work with her. Julia Morgan spat out her chewing gum to play a perfect princess and Jodie Looker followed her around as Maid Moonlight.
Boo, Hiss...
 | Tim Wedgwood |
Tim Wedgwood's dirty secret was finally revealed - he can't half belt out a song and some say he has designs on being the next Shirley Bassey - quite a contrast then in his role as wicked Abanazar.
Stuart George - the man of a 1000 faces - all his own, played the Emperor with a strut that would put Mick Jagger to shame.
There were walk on parts, cameo roles and support from almost every member of the team at BBC Radio Stoke - though by far the best turn of the night had to be... no, not me - the audience. It made the Glasgow Empire seem like the RSC!!
A good rub!
 | Jonathan Fernyhough |
As for Jonathan Fernyhough - how do you follow a line which says "I like a good rub" - well, he was the Genie?
How about following it with the only glitch of the night and it was all down to ME - oh the shame.
The Laurence Olivier School of bit-part acting are already demanding I resign. It was bad enough that my part was Slave of the ring, that I had never sung in public before and I doubt I never will again - but it was a heart stopping moment when having fled the stage after a dodgy rendition of Respect I was lurking round the make-up artist and letting him fiddle with my radio mic, when I heard the immortal words... "Slave of the Ring kindly return to the stage NOW!"
In what was truly a Mavis Wilton moment I had missed my final cue - disaster could have loomed were it not for the master of ad-lib, charm and wit, Nick Willmot our narrator, who kept things going and most of all that wonderful audience... 'cos in true farce style they thought it was all part of the plot - bless 'em.
Credits
Jodie Looker and Tim Wedgwood were the brains behind the event with help from Nick Brunger and a 700 strong audience.
 | Jacky Wise |
Jacky Wise attempted to control the performers
Stafford Gatehouse Theatre provided the venue and a whole range of support including gussets.
Roger Crick and Simon Penfold recorded the radio broadcast - YOU can hear it on Christmas Day at 1.05pm and again on Saturday December 27th at 2pm.
PS... we also raised a shed load of cash for charity!
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| |  | BBC Stoke and Staffordshire
Cheapside
Hanley
Stoke-on-Trent
Staffordshire
ST1 1JJ
tel: (+44) 01782 221281
e-mail: [email protected] |
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