Andrew Pepper tells William Crossley he feels regal as he makes his dame debut Andrew Pepper admits it is tough getting used to two new alter egos.

He came face to face with the first when he shaved off his beard as part of his transformation into the second, Connie Clatterbottom, a nanny-cum-schoolteacher with a shaky grasp of sums.

Andrew is the flamboyantly-attired dame in Robin Hood, which begins this week at The Theatre in Chipping Norton. He said: “The photoshoot was the first time I saw her in all her glory, with make-up and the wig.

“Leading up to that was quite traumatic.

“I’ve always had a beard and the last time I shaved it off was for an audition three years ago, after which I grew it straight back.

“When I shaved it off this time, I was horrified by what I saw in the mirror, because in my head I was much more chiselled.

“So that was a bit of a shock, but Connie’s costumes are fabulous, they really are. And the dress does so much of the work for you.

“I have a rehearsal dress, a skirt with lots of wire in it, which I just put on top of my jeans and you find you become like Queen Elizabeth, sort of floating around and just instinctively lifting it up as you go upstairs.”

Connie’s character – “a northern granny, with, hopefully, a youngish face” – owes a lot to Andrew’s Lancashire upbringing.

He said: “She’s northern, because I come from Bolton and I do have a bit of a northern accent but it’s not very strong. I’m very much channelling my inner northerner.”

But one aspect of Connie caught him by surprise in mid-rehearsal.

“I discovered this morning that she’s my grandma. Not completely, but she’s coming through.

“Because my grandma died when I was young, she’s not someone I really think about, although I know that I adored her and she was one of my favourite people in the world. But I was on stage and was thinking ‘Who is that? Oh my god, it’s Nanny’ and it’s just extraordinary that someone can become part of you in a way so that she’s coming out here.”

Another northern influence is the comedy of Victoria Wood and Julie Walters: “My mum is a huge fan of Victoria Wood, so I spent a lot of my childhood being reared on Victoria Wood and Julie Walters, which has very much influenced my sense of humour. Julie Walters has influenced me more as a performer but I can hear myself delivering things in a Victoria Wood rhythm.”

While this is Andrew’s first time as the dame, he is no stranger to pantomime Oxfordshire-style, nor Robin Hood, having played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Oxford Playhouse’s 2013 production.

Andrew, a regular on the cabaret club scene in London, told me he has fond memories of the Oxford show: “I think that’s the most fun I’ve ever had, because I just played him like a Restoration fop and enjoyed strutting around the stage being evil. Plus I had the best costume, which was so extravagant.”

Chipping Norton’s pantomime tradition goes back 42 years. The 1973 production of Beauty and the Beast ran for four nights at the town hall to raise money for the conversion of the town’s former Salvation Army Citadel into the theatre. This year’s cast will give 90 performances over seven weeks, which will be seen by 17,000 people.

Andrew said: “When you stand on the stage you think ‘oh it’s tiny’ but I can’t wait to see it with an audience, because it’s such a beautiful, intimate space and you’ll be able to see people’s faces.”

Appearing alongside Andrew are Scott Ellis as Robin Hood, Madeleine Leslay as Maid Marion and Andrew Piper as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Oxford Mail:

The show was written by Ben Crocker, his seventh panto for The Theatre, and is directed by Abigail Anderson, who has masterminded several successful pantomimes at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, with the music by Sarah Travis, who has composed the scores for a series of Chippy pantos over the years.

Where and when

For more information and to book tickets, see chippingnortontheatre.com, call 01608 642350

* WIN!

We have teamed up with the Theatre Chipping Norton to offer a family ticket (four people) to see the panto on Thursday, 10 December, 2015 at 6pm. The winner also receives a goody bag, including posters, a programme and badges.

For a chance to win, tell us the name of the forest in which, according to the legend, Robin Hood is reputed to have inhabited with his Merry Men.

Answers by email (with youtr name, age, address and contact number) to tim.hughes@nqo.com by 4pm today, please.

Usual rules apply. Tickets cannot be transferred and are for the stated performance only. The Editor’s decision is final