Dames Iain Lauchlan and Greg Powrie certainly make a gruesome twosome in Coventry Belgrade Theatre’s pantomime production of Cinderella!

With Cinderella being this year’s Belgrade Theatre pantomime, Coventry is in for twice the fun as the stage is graced by not just one, but two veteran Scottish panto dames.

But audiences might not be the only ones seeing double this Christmas. Fresh from gallivanting around Glasgow, holidaying in the Highlands and drinking distilleries dry, Cinderella’s Ugly Sisters Dyspepsia and Listeria head for the Midlands loaded up on whisky and pizza crunch (that’s battered, deep-fried pizza to the uninitiated).

Joining local legend Iain Lauchlan for his Coventry debut is Pitlochry’s own Greg Powrie. The pair play sisters Pepsi and Lizzie respectively.

“As people here will know, I always play my dames as Scottish anyway,” says Iain, who in 2017 is taking part in his 23rd Belgrade panto, juggling the roles of writer, director and dame once more. “This year we’ve definitely got a strong Scottish theme, particularly at the beginning.”

“I think it’s fair to say a lot of English people have certain preconceptions about Scotland,” adds Greg, “some of which are apocryphal and some of which are true. But that’s something that we play on quite a lot - getting drunk and things like that.

"I’m actually really intrigued to see how it’s going to work because I’ve never done a panto in England before. I think it’ll be weird - at least initially - because Iain and Craig (Hollingsworth, who plays Buttons) know the audience so well, and then you’ve got this Scottish upstart coming in!”

That ‘Scottish theme’ will also be reflected in the design: the sisters’ top style tips this season involve lots of tropical fruit as well as tartan, which, according to Greg, “never goes out of fashion”. Take note, Coventry fashionistas.

“It’s always a real treat doing panto here because we get a completely new set, props and costumes every year,” says Iain. “The Belgrade is really lucky to have its own wardrobe and workshop.”

Despite Iain’s extensive dame experience, it’s the first time in over 20 years he’s played an Ugly Sister. For Powrie it’s the second year on the trot - he was an Ugly Sister in a Lauchlan-penned Imagine Theatre panto at Kirkcaldy’s Adam Smith Theatre in 2016. 

“It’s quite odd to be doing Cinderella two years running because, like Iain, I’ve been doing Dame for the last however many years and usually there’s an autonomy about that. So if you choose to go off-piste, you can. Whereas with Uglies, it’s a double-act, so you’ve got to take a bit of a gamble on who the other half is. That’s why you get a lot of comedy double-acts doing it, and duos who just do Ugly Sisters and never play dames independently.”

“I’m actually not a great lover of doing Cinderella,” Iain admits. “I usually much prefer to be a dame than an Ugly Sister. The last time I did it must’ve been in the early ’90s, although I’ve directed it here since then. The problem is that sometimes it can become a bit of a competition. It wasn’t until I first played it alongside Greg that I felt like this was how it should be done, where you’re helping each other out rather than competing.”

It might be Greg’s first time in Coventry, but the Caledonian co-stars still have history, from Iain’s days as creative director of Belgrade panto co-producers Imagine Theatre. Cinderella was the third pantomime he performed in at Inverness’ Eden Court Theatre, recruiting Greg as his comedy partner following auditions in Edinburgh.

“I didn’t know him before that,” says Iain, “but Greg is just so generous to work with, as well as being a really good performer. So when it was decided that we’d be doing Cinderella this year, I asked him to come down because I needed someone that I really liked and could trust.” 

With the sisters serving a dual function as both baddies and comic relief, Cinderella often has a different dynamic to other pantos.

“Quite often with Cinderella, you don’t have a Stepmother,” explains Iain, “or she’s just a voice off-stage, so the Uglies are the out-and-out baddies. But in this show, by bringing the Stepmother in, you’ve got a figure for the kids to really dislike, which helps to soften their feelings towards the sisters.”

“I think that makes it more fun,” adds Greg. “You want to be able to laugh at the Uglies, but if they’re the only ones making Cinderella’s life a misery, it’s more difficult to do that.” 

Unusually, Maggie Robson will be taking on two very different maternal guises here, doubling up as Cinderella’s Stepmother and her Fairy Godmother. Meanwhile, as Buttons, comic Craig Hollingsworth will move away from his usual on-stage camaraderie with the dame, with his and Iain’s characters this time at loggerheads.

“Craig is definitely going to be getting some payback this year,” says Iain, “because he pretty much always ends up getting the worst of it in the slosh scenes, whereas this year that’ll be Greg.” 

“I’ve only known him for two days and I can already sense he’s going to enjoy that,” adds Greg.

Cinderella shows at Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, until Saturday 13 January.