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There are more photos from this production below. Selecting any of the small thumbnail images will show a larger version of the picture in the main part of the page. »

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Babes in the Wood by Micky O'Donoughue & Robin Davies - Prince John (+ Fight Director)

- City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds. Directed by Kate Versey.

What a great panto this was! Really good fun from the first day of rehearsals. We had a terrific script by Micky O'Donoughue and Robin Davies, a wonderful director in Kate Versey, and a fantastic cast who were all absolutely up for it from the unknowns (like me!) right up to the stars. No brief, embarrassing 'star turns' here; our three headliners - Leslie Ash as Maid Marion, Ian Lavender as Dame Elvira and Ian Sharrock as the Sheriff of Nottingham (a real stand-out performance!) - mucked in and worked as hard as any of us, were perfect for their various roles, and were really really lovely to work with.

It was great to get to play a true villain of the old school, and I am still hugely touched that Ian Sharrock generously allowed me to be the real villain by making his Sheriff a brilliantly incompetent and hilarious comedy turn with shades of Frank Spencer and Kenneth Williams. It was a tour de force of a performance that made me (and, more importantly, the audience) cry with laughter every single night! Ian Lavender was superb too in his first ever Dame role (though I still wish he'd got his own back for all those Dad's Army moments and snapped 'You stupid boy' at Dickon just once!), and Leslie Ash was gorgeous, brave and funny as the very un-wimpish Maid Marion (Michael Remick's Robin Hood, on the other hand, was a lovely study in slightly bemused chivalry as Robin, despite his best intentions, was constantly upstaged by his lady's own heroics!)

The lovely and historic little City Varieties theatre was a perfect venue for the intimate nature of this panto and allowed me to create some really heart-stopping 'close-quarters' sword-fights on the tiny stage.

I also had a great prop - a false arm with a huge hawk 'sitting' on it (operated by my own, hidden, real arm). This allowed me some glorious 'Rod Hull' moments as the bird stared balefully around and attacked other cast and audience members at every opportunity.

All in all a glorious, riotous, hugely enjoyable job that was everything a panto engagement should be and so very rarely is.

"Jon Glentoran...hams it up horribly - and was perfect..." (The Stage)