CERI DUPREE & MIKE DOYLE IN CINDERELLA
As they prepare to don frocks as the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella, the Christmas panto at Cardiff’s New Theatre, legendary Welsh entertainers Ceri Dupree [left] and Mike Doyle [right] reveal their earliest panto memories, their pre-show rituals and why panto is a very British tradition. They chat to Sam Pryce.
What are your earliest memories of pantomime? For many people, it is also their first experience of theatre.
Mike Doyle: Well, I come from Carmarthen in West Wales, and when I was a kid, going to Swansea would be a massive treat. I remember my parents promising to take me… Then my dad said, “We’re not going, ‘cause there’d be nowhere to park.” So, we got on the train, and I went to the Swansea Grand and it was Morecambe and Wise. The beautiful dancing waters, remember those, Ceri?
Ceri Dupree: I don’t know Morecambe and Wise – you’re slightly older than me.
Mike: As you keep reminding me. Anyway, I was absolutely transfixed. I remember looking down on to the stage, and due to my Catholic upbringing, I just thought, “Please God, please God I’d love to do that.”
Ceri: Well, you were sat in the Gods.
Mike: Ha! Boom, boom. Anyway, it was the very first time I was completely hooked. I daydreamed about it; I was rubbish in school because of it; I passed no exams because of it – all I wanted to do was this.
Ceri: Mine is the same sort of story really, but I was taken [to panto] by both of my parents (who were in the business). My birthday is on 29th January and my sister’s is 8th March, which tells you how long the runs were in those days. We’d go twice for each of our birthdays. I remember going to see Ryan & Ronnie – one of the great entertainers Ryan Davies, who was the Pantomime God. People came from the Valleys, literally around 28-38 coaches going there, and you don’t see that now! I was sitting there as a kid, same as Mike, thinking, “One day.”
You’re both veterans of panto. What is it that brings you back to it as a performer?
Ceri: Veterans? That’s a posh word for old.
Mike: I think you either enjoy doing pantomime or you don’t. I love it – I can’t imagine that middle ground where it would be like just turning up to do a job. I mean, it is hard work. You’re out of the house 10 -12 hours a day, maybe even more. You’ve got to enjoy that, haven’t you?
Ceri: For me, I don’t find it that hard and I’ll tell you why. When I do my one-night shows, I take loads of gear with me (around 12-14 costume changes a night). And there could be one night in Birmingham, then you’re in Clacton, then you’re in Hull – that is a killer, for me. Doing pantomime, the hard work is the rehearsal, the tech, the dress rehearsal. Once you’ve got it on its legs and learnt it, I go into the theatre, sit down, put my whack on, and do the show. There is no unpacking or repacking when you’re in the theatre for six weeks. Every now and then, you do get a bit tired. But, at the end of the day, people are paying you to dress up in silly costumes and make people laugh – there are far worse things you could be doing!
Take me through the makeover process for a pantomime dame.
Mike: Over to you, Ceri Dupree, the master!
Ceri: Everyone has their own way of doing things. It takes me about an hour to put my whack on, as it were. But I will sit an hour and a half before as I don’t really like to rush. I’m usually first to arrive and last to leave because I faff about a lot. People think you go in and people do it for you – no, no, that isn’t the case.
Mike: I’m new to the putting on of the frocks – this is my eighth year when I say new. When I first did it, I did not know how to start. I was begging people to help. But Ceri is a perfectionist in everything he does, working alongside him this year, it is making me feel I have to up my game in every area.
Ceri: When we first knew we were doing it, he sent me a text saying, “I’m excited and I’m on a diet.”
Mike: So now, I’m petrified and I’m fatter than ever! But regarding the make-up, over the years, I put it on a lot quicker. It wasn’t until the wig hit me, and the eyes and lipstick, I just looked in the mirror and I became my mother. All the little things I do as a Dame are just my mother – as an Ugly Sister, it’s a little different. But I love doing the makeup, the wigs, the whole lot – and to be working with this man right here is an honour because he is such a great man of his craft and I will learn a lot this year.
Pantomime is a very British tradition. We saw from the rehearsal that there’s a lot of local humour involved. As you’re both legends of Welsh entertainment, can you talk about the Welsh aspect of this pantomime?
Ceri: You must have local references, whether it be in England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales. I feel it’s the local references that people love the most – football teams, local areas, posh areas, dodgy areas – I think they love that. [Panto] is very British though. I did Sleeping Beauty years ago in Birmingham and some American friends came to see it and after the show they said, “You were all mucking about a bit too much – why did you mention a football team?” They thought they were coming to see the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty, and they just didn’t get it.
Mike: I had the same thing last year; I had a mate coming from Florida excited to watch Beauty and the Beast. And he said [in American accent], “Yah, I’m really lookin’ forward to it, it’s gonna be wonderful, I’m so excited.” And of course, the show started with a song from The Greatest Showman. And he sat there like, “Hah! They need to do some homework – that song is NOT in Beauty and the Beast!”
Cinderella is at the New Theatre, Cardiff from Sat 7 Dec to Sun 12 Jan. Tickets and info here.