Brad Fitt is a familiar festive face at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn. For the past six years, he’s starred at the venue as the quick-witted pantomime Dame - first in Aladdin in 2011 and now in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. He’s been described by the Telegraph as one of the UK’s top Dames, and once upon a time earned his corn writing panto gags for Christopher Biggins.
What makes Christmas magical for you?
I’ve been involved in pantomimes since I was about 18 years old, so Christmas has always been my busiest time of the year. I only really get Christmas Day off. I love doing the shows in that week leading up to Christmas, when you have all the family audiences in, people have stopped working for the holidays and they’re all there together - children, parents and grandparents. Five years ago, my partner and I became foster carers and we have a family of three young boys now, so Christmas has become something quite different for us. Whereas I used to look at it as my day off, it’s now much more about the kids. I love it.
What was your first ever experience as a Dame?
I’d been writer and director of the Cambridge Arts Theatres pantomimes for a few years when they asked me to play an Ugly Sister. I never trained as an actor and I thought the idea was stupid, but they kept asking. After a while, I decided I should do it just so that I knew what it was like for the actors I’d been directing. It went very well and they asked me back the following year. I’ve played Dame every year since then, apart from last year when they let me play Buttons in Cinderella.
If you weren’t a Dame, what other panto character would you like to play?
I didn’t think I’d enjoy playing Buttons last year, but it was actually a really rewarding experience and quite different being onstage with no funny costumes or make up. I do think that I’d like to play a baddie one day. Abanazar in Aladdin would be my first choice, but perhaps I’ll save that for when I’m too old and tired for all the quick changes..
Have you ever had any costume malfunctions?
I recall being onstage many years ago and not feeling quite right. The scene was going okay and it was getting laughs, but I knew there was something awry. It wasn’t until I got back to my dressing room and saw my boobs draped over the back of a chair that I realised what I’d been missing!
What’s your all-time favourite panto?
I think for pure storyline and content, I’d always plump for Dick Whittington. It has a great part for the Dame and scope for various locations. I’ve always enjoyed that one in particular.
Who’s your scariest villain?
I’d have to say Abanazar, which is partly why I’d like to play him one day. While he can be an evil character, he also has to try and trick the Twankeys into believing he’s on their side. It’s certainly a part you could get your teeth into. I once did Aladdin with Victor Spinetti, who was a wonderful Abanazar and such a generous and talented performer.
Never work with children or animals. Comment...
I’ve only ever done one pantomime that used real Shetland ponies to pull Cinderella’s coach, and I’m not that keen. There’s something about putting a horse onstage under a spotlight that makes it ‘nervous’, shall we say. It’s hard to keep the audience’s attention when they’re watching the dancers and cast expertly manoeuvre around an onstage ‘deposit’!
Do you have a routine to ensure you’re ‘panto ready’?
A pantomime schedule is quite full-on, it’s the season of coughs and colds, and added to that you’re onstage battling against the cries of up to 700 children, so it’s important to look after yourself and your voice. I make sure I get enough sleep, eat well and take vitamins. I also drink a concoction of hot water with Manuka honey, chopped ginger, fresh rosemary, apple cider vinegar and lime juice. I’m always making mugs of it and passing it out to any cast member with the start of a sniffle.
Where will you be spending Christmas Day?
I get back home to North Norfolk around 9.30pm on Christmas Eve and spend Christmas Day there. We normally start the day with a long walk on the beach with the boys and our dogs. Quite often we’re the only ones out there and it’s glorious. Some years we go to a restaurant for lunch and other times my partner does the cooking whilst I spend the morning putting together toys and searching for batteries.
What’s top of your Christmas list?
I think I’m a terribly hard person to buy for, as I never really want anything. My favourite things are thoughtful gifts that people have made me. There’s a lovely young man called Zac who comes up with his family to see me every year and makes beautiful ornaments and trinkets out of clay and wood. I always love those - and the things that the boys have made me at school. My desk in the office is covered in all of those, as they mean so much more to me.
What’s the worst gift anyone could ever give you?
Goodness me, I’ve no idea. I don’t drink alcohol at all, so I suppose booze would be the worst thing, as I’d just have to pass it along to someone else
Sprouts - yes or no?
I love sprouts now. I used to hate them as a child, but back then they used to be put on to boil around 9am for a 2pm Christmas lunch, by which time they’d resemble dark green balls of slime. I like them with a bit of crunch and served with chestnuts and bacon - but then everything always tastes better with bacon!
Favourite festive tipple?
I drink a non-alcoholic ginger drink, which I get from Holland & Barrett. It’s lovely and warming and great over ice.
Do you ever get post-panto blues?
Absolutely. You practically spend every day with your panto family from mid-November till early January. Everyone’s in a good mood because it’s Christmas and New Year, you perform twice a day and have thousands of people laughing, cheering and clapping your every move. And then it’s over, so you go home and nobody claps when you take the bins out. And to top it all off, a week after the run, you get your final pay cheque. It’s depressing, but it doesn’t last long. February normally brings an email asking about your availability for a photo shoot for that year’s show and the whole cycle starts again, it’s a wonderful job and I’m very lucky.
Brad plays Nurse Nellie in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, which shows at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, from Wed 29 November to Sun 7 January
Brad Fitt is a familiar festive face at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn. For the past six years, he’s starred at the venue as the quick-witted pantomime Dame - first in Aladdin in 2011 and now in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. He’s been described by the Telegraph as one of the UK’s top Dames, and once upon a time earned his corn writing panto gags for Christopher Biggins.
What makes Christmas magical for you?
I’ve been involved in pantomimes since I was about 18 years old, so Christmas has always been my busiest time of the year. I only really get Christmas Day off. I love doing the shows in that week leading up to Christmas, when you have all the family audiences in, people have stopped working for the holidays and they’re all there together - children, parents and grandparents. Five years ago, my partner and I became foster carers and we have a family of three young boys now, so Christmas has become something quite different for us. Whereas I used to look at it as my day off, it’s now much more about the kids. I love it.
What was your first ever experience as a Dame?
I’d been writer and director of the Cambridge Arts Theatres pantomimes for a few years when they asked me to play an Ugly Sister. I never trained as an actor and I thought the idea was stupid, but they kept asking. After a while, I decided I should do it just so that I knew what it was like for the actors I’d been directing. It went very well and they asked me back the following year. I’ve played Dame every year since then, apart from last year when they let me play Buttons in Cinderella.
If you weren’t a Dame, what other panto character would you like to play?
I didn’t think I’d enjoy playing Buttons last year, but it was actually a really rewarding experience and quite different being onstage with no funny costumes or make up. I do think that I’d like to play a baddie one day. Abanazar in Aladdin would be my first choice, but perhaps I’ll save that for when I’m too old and tired for all the quick changes..
Have you ever had any costume malfunctions?
I recall being onstage many years ago and not feeling quite right. The scene was going okay and it was getting laughs, but I knew there was something awry. It wasn’t until I got back to my dressing room and saw my boobs draped over the back of a chair that I realised what I’d been missing!
What’s your all-time favourite panto?
I think for pure storyline and content, I’d always plump for Dick Whittington. It has a great part for the Dame and scope for various locations. I’ve always enjoyed that one in particular.
Who’s your scariest villain?
I’d have to say Abanazar, which is partly why I’d like to play him one day. While he can be an evil character, he also has to try and trick the Twankeys into believing he’s on their side. It’s certainly a part you could get your teeth into. I once did Aladdin with Victor Spinetti, who was a wonderful Abanazar and such a generous and talented performer.
Never work with children or animals. Comment...
I’ve only ever done one pantomime that used real Shetland ponies to pull Cinderella’s coach, and I’m not that keen. There’s something about putting a horse onstage under a spotlight that makes it ‘nervous’, shall we say. It’s hard to keep the audience’s attention when they’re watching the dancers and cast expertly manoeuvre around an onstage ‘deposit’!
Do you have a routine to ensure you’re ‘panto ready’?
A pantomime schedule is quite full-on, it’s the season of coughs and colds, and added to that you’re onstage battling against the cries of up to 700 children, so it’s important to look after yourself and your voice. I make sure I get enough sleep, eat well and take vitamins. I also drink a concoction of hot water with Manuka honey, chopped ginger, fresh rosemary, apple cider vinegar and lime juice. I’m always making mugs of it and passing it out to any cast member with the start of a sniffle.
Where will you be spending Christmas Day?
I get back home to North Norfolk around 9.30pm on Christmas Eve and spend Christmas Day there. We normally start the day with a long walk on the beach with the boys and our dogs. Quite often we’re the only ones out there and it’s glorious. Some years we go to a restaurant for lunch and other times my partner does the cooking whilst I spend the morning putting together toys and searching for batteries.
What’s top of your Christmas list?
I think I’m a terribly hard person to buy for, as I never really want anything. My favourite things are thoughtful gifts that people have made me. There’s a lovely young man called Zac who comes up with his family to see me every year and makes beautiful ornaments and trinkets out of clay and wood. I always love those - and the things that the boys have made me at school. My desk in the office is covered in all of those, as they mean so much more to me.
What’s the worst gift anyone could ever give you?
Goodness me, I’ve no idea. I don’t drink alcohol at all, so I suppose booze would be the worst thing, as I’d just have to pass it along to someone else
Sprouts - yes or no?
I love sprouts now. I used to hate them as a child, but back then they used to be put on to boil around 9am for a 2pm Christmas lunch, by which time they’d resemble dark green balls of slime. I like them with a bit of crunch and served with chestnuts and bacon - but then everything always tastes better with bacon!
Favourite festive tipple?
I drink a non-alcoholic ginger drink, which I get from Holland & Barrett. It’s lovely and warming and great over ice.
Do you ever get post-panto blues?
Absolutely. You practically spend every day with your panto family from mid-November till early January. Everyone’s in a good mood because it’s Christmas and New Year, you perform twice a day and have thousands of people laughing, cheering and clapping your every move. And then it’s over, so you go home and nobody claps when you take the bins out. And to top it all off, a week after the run, you get your final pay cheque. It’s depressing, but it doesn’t last long. February normally brings an email asking about your availability for a photo shoot for that year’s show and the whole cycle starts again, it’s a wonderful job and I’m very lucky.
Brad plays Nurse Nellie in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, which shows at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, from Wed 29 November to Sun 7 January