There's nothing like a dame as panto star Brad Fitt continues to delight audiences

Time spent working with panto royalty in the shape of Christopher Biggins only increased the fascination.

So it’s no surprise that actor Brad Fitt developed a love affair with pantomime, eventually becoming the star of the show.

There is nothing like a Dame, they say, and, in Brad, audiences in Shropshire have been blessed with one of pantomime’s finest.

Brad, recognised as one of the funniest Dames in the country, returns to the region to star in his 10th season at Theatre Severn this month in the role of Mrs Smee, for the forthcoming The pantomime adventures of Peter Pan!

He will reunite with Eric Smith, who will be playing Eric The Pirate in his 18th Shrewsbury pantomime.

Theatre Severn also revealed that Victoria McCabe who has previously starred in Mother Goose (2018) and Aladdin (2019), returns in the role of Elizabeth Darling.

Harry Winchester and Phil Stewart will play the roles of Peter Pan and Captain Hook, while Katy Dean and Millie Davies make their debuts at the venue in the roles of Mrs Darling and Tinkerbell.

“It’s been a long time coming as we didn’t have one last year,” Brad reflects, solemnly. “It’s been a tough and crazy couple of years.

“So let’s cheer it up a bit!” he adds, freshly enthused. “Pantomime is something we can do as a family.

“Historically, panto brings people together, it’s a whole family thing with every generation coming along, from children to grandparents. Everyone has a memory of pantomime. I have always been fascinated.”

Like most of us, Brad’s first experience of panto was as a child and it was a moment that cemented his love of the genre.

“I remember being taken for the first time. I went to see Cinderella at the Theatre Royal in Norwich.

“Paul Henry was starring as Buttons and I remember it all, the whole experience, so vividly.

“The music, the lights going down, the curtains going up, kids coming on singing ‘London is London’, the doors opening at the back and the smoke – and then, there was Benny from Crossroads.”

Brad’s love of panto even saw him write a show called ‘We’ll have to do it again, won’t we?’ last year.

It was all about pantomime and how he got involved in it – and it gave him a chance to meet up with Paul Henry.

“Paul lives not far from Shrewsbury and I sent him a message saying he was the reason I got into panto and would he come along to the show,” recalls Brad. “He was a guest and it was fantastic.

“Things had come full circle. I saw him on stage when I was five and, then, 40 years later he came and had a chat on stage about it all.”

Brad has now racked up more than 500 performances at Theatre Severn, having taken a fascinating route.

As a young man, he was assistant stage manager for the Theatre Royal Norwich production of Aladdin, with a cast including Biggins and one of the finest ‘Baddies’ in the business, the late Victor Spinetti.

After training in stage management at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Brad toured the UK and abroad as a company stage manager, linking up with Biggins again.

“When I was a kid, I was terribly shy and didn’t do anything like drama,” Brad recounts.

“I was too shy to get on stage but I left school and got a job as an usher at the Theatre Royal.

“I was asked if I’d go back stage and help with something and I discovered there was this whole other world so I trained as a stage manager.

“I used to be company manager for Biggins when he was doing panto. I started offering him the occasional gag, things like ‘We have a large party in from Royston tonight, good evening madam’.

He was soon approached by Cambridge Arts Theatre to pen their Pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk.

Brad wrote and directed the pantomimes for Cambridge for eight years but remembers taking to the stage for the first time when he was asked to play an ugly sister in Cinderella.

“I thought it was a terrible idea as I’d never been on stage or done training but they kept asking,” he recalls. “We did an audition and I thought ‘actually it’s quite fun and they will never ask me again so I’ll do it’.

“It was the first time I’d been on stage and I’ve done it ever since.

“I have never played an Ugly Sister since, though. You have to have a good partner.

“They tend to have worked with each other for years and they can finish each other’s sentences just like that. You have to gel because it’s a double act.”

This is now Brad’s tenth consecutive pantomime for Evolution Productions, having played Widow Twankey (Aladdin 2011 and 2019); Dame Trott (Jack and The Beanstalk); Nurse Nellie (Sleeping Beauty); Mrs Smee (Peter Pan); Dolly the Cook (Dick Whittington); Buttons (Cinderella); Nurse Nellie (Snow White); and Mother Goose.

“I have done all the Dames now,” he said. “My favourite is Mother Goose, it’s the Hamlet of Dames as you are the main character and you are never off stage. It has a good story and a good moral.

“My favourite panto is Dick Whittington, though, as it starts in London. You have the rats, the boat to Morocco, there’s lots of elements that are good for comedy – being out at sea, on a foreign island. There’s a lot you can do.”

While he’s at home as a dame, Brad admits he did enjoy his moment out of costume.

“My favourite one-off was Cinderella when I was Buttons,” he recalls. “It was just different. As a dame, you have a fat suit on, four pairs of tights, padding, make up, wigs.

“It’s not the real you because you are so far removed from what you are. With Buttons, it was just me. I thought I’d hate it but I really enjoyed it!”

But it’s his performance as a dame that audiences will be enjoying this festive period.

“Children love Peter Pan, especially the flying,” he adds. “I’m playing Mrs Smee, sidekick to Captain Hook and I’m looking forward to it, meeting people back in the theatre.

“Life has all been online with zoom so it’s nice to get back with other creative people, putting things together again.

“It will be quite emotional, seeing the audience. It will be great getting back out there.

“I’m all set. I unpack my padded suit out of the loft, grab my boots and that’s about it! Once the face and boobs go on, it all falls into place!”

The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan runs at the Theatre Severn until Monday, January 3.