Leamington play goes backstage at the panto

The Ugly Sisters take centre stage at Spencer Yard in Leamington in a new production written by and starring Oliver Hume of Warwick, with co-star Andrew Cullum of Coventry.

Set at the backstage of a local theatre, The Panto Girls sees the pair - who are both regular actors with the Leamington-based Heartbreak Productions - play the parts of the Ugly Sisters in a production of Cinderella – roles they were in fact playing when they first met at the Solihull Arts complex two years ago.

While one loves the glamour of dressing up and wearing make-up, the other wishes he was at the pub having a few pints with the lads.

The light comedy depicts the offstage and onstage lives of two men with very different outlooks as they attempt to share a dressing room for four weeks.

When not wearing a basket of fruit on his head, Oliver also directs, having recently directed a stage version of a Stephen King novel, Misery, at the Blue Orange Theatre in Birmingham and worked as a giant puppet in Sheffield.

He said: “I love all the jobs I’ve ever done barring a few. I love doing Shakespeare - I’ve played Macbeth and that was incredible.

“I also love musicals and have, in my time, played Fagin in Oliver, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and sung in several musical plays over the years.”

Andrew, who is a writer as well as an actor, said: “What I enjoy the most is the variety of the roles I get to play. I like the classics for the detailed emotional parts they offer, and I like the glitter and comedy of pantomime.

“Playing Dame, or for that matter Ugly Sister, is not dressing up as a woman. The point is that the audience knows that it is really a man under it all. It’s not the same thing as female impersonation. Having the right costume makes you feel right as an actor. My Ugly Sister was obsessed with how gorgeous she looked – even though in reality she looked grotesque, whereas Ollie’s characterisation was more along the lines of a butch bloke in a dress.”

The Panto Girls is showing at the North Hall at Spencer Yard on Saturday October 8 and Sunday October 9. Tickets cost £12 (concessions £8), or £10 and £6 if booked in advance. Call 430407.

The production is also on at the Solihull Arts Complex until tomorrow (Saturday) and at the Blue Orange Theatre in Birmingham from Wednesday October 12 until Saturday October 15.