There is nothin’ like a dame!

Suzanne Bird
5 days ago
4 min read

Words by Suzanne Bird

Photos by Caitlin Lock

Oh no, there isn’t!

Pantomime audiences at The White Rock Theatre’s Jack and the Beanstalk are in for a real treat this Christmas. I know this first-hand, as I was lucky to spend a side-splitting day last week with Mark Two, the traditional pantomime dame playing Dame Tilly Trott. Mark Two is appearing as part of a talented panto cast including Richard Blackwood as Jack and Tim McArthur returning as Fleshcreep by popular demand. The whole theatre is being transformed for the panto, it looks absolutely magical, and we are promised a spectacular night, with brilliant dancers and a lot of laughs.

Oh no, he didn’t!

Oh yes, he did. Mark transformed me into a traditional panto dame, matching his own signature look. Once my eyebrows were stuck fast with a bar of soap, he showed me each step of the make-up on himself. He did warn me, “We want to look funny. If you’re planning on looking beautiful, that’s not going to happen here!” I did my best to copy him, applying the outrageous make-up whilst trying not to laugh too much, with Caitlin taking photos as we progressed. I was well out of my comfort zone, but it was so much fun, and I must admit I was sorry we didn’t have time to glue on the massive false eyelashes he’d reserved for me. However, he had brought in an extravagantly ruffled dame’s frock and wig for me to wear, which was the (very yellow) icing on the cake!

“Mums in the audience see that you’ve lived a bit, and they accept and empathise with the Dame more than if she were played younger”

A passion for panto

It’s clear that panto is Mark Two’s passion; he has appeared in over fifty professional pantomimes in a wide range of roles, and the move from principal comic (like Buttons) to pantomime dame came in 1997. He resisted the idea at first, as it’s a specialist discipline, but he soon developed his act as a ‘traditional’ dame. There aren’t many experienced performers doing this traditional style of character anymore, so we are lucky to experience it here. There is sharp wit to a dame’s comedy, but they’re not spiteful (unless you’re playing an ugly sister, which Mark did successfully for many years) and he plays the Dames with more roundness and motherliness these days. “Mums in the audience see that you’ve lived a bit, and they accept and empathise with the Dame more than if she were played younger”.

Traditional dames differ most from more modern drag dames because they don’t try to look pretty (as I now know!). Mark explained that they’re two distinct disciplines, “with me, there’s no attempt to hide the fact that I’m a bloke in a frock,” and traditionally, a panto dame’s obvious masculinity became an essential part of the joke. The frocks are a key part of the Mark Two pantomime dame act, which always features multiple costume changes, to give each stage entrance the maximum impact. He probably works as hard backstage as he does on stage, with all these changeovers! He still comes up with all the ideas and makes most of his costumes himself with his wife Dee, and they are a glorious riot of ruffles, comedy and colour. He says that each costume’s individual character is the most important thing about it; they’re all different.

I asked Mark whether there’s a point during the transformation into a dame when he thinks, “Ah, there she is!” He said that the preparations take a long time, and it’s only when it all comes together, wig and all, that the character takes over and he’s ready to take to the stage.

Behind you!

Mark Two has had a hugely varied career in show business, starting from the age of 7 and encouraged by his Dad, who was a tv ventriloquist. He has been a junior ventriloquist, played in a children’s skiffle band, had a Euro-pop single in 1988 with its own popular dance, and has appeared three times at The London Palladium with his ultra-violet show. He spent many years as an Ugly Sister in a long-term double act, writing the scripts and designing the costumes. His more recent double act is with his daughter Marie, and he loves working with her, putting on production shows throughout the year, when he’s not in panto.

Back to Hastings

Mark appeared on stage in Hastings many years ago, opening a show called The Shoe Factory, and he jumped at the chance to return here for this year’s panto. I told him I thought the Hastings audiences will be really responsive and interactive. This is of course just what a pantomime dame seeks, engaging with the audience through all their call and response phrases. Mark says you do have to work hard to engage an audience, but he absolutely loves it when he knows he’s got them, when they respond well and the noise levels rise.