As the Gonzo Moose theatre company brings its latest comedy to the Pegasus, Nicola Lisle talks to co-writer and actor Mark Dawson

If you’re looking for some family fun that’s bursting with merri-ment, humour and general silliness, then I’m An Aristocrat, Get Me Out of Here! ticks all the boxes.

Produced by Gonzo Moose — the company behind What the Dickens? and Grimm and Grimmer — this Scarlet Pimpernel-inspired, swashbuckling comedy is at the Pegasus Theatre for a whole month over Christmas and the New Year, so there’s plenty of opportunity to catch this festive treat.

“There’s lots of disguises, silly costumes and high adventure with sword fights, heroes and dastardly villains,” says Mark Dawson, one of the co-founders of Gonzo Moose. “It’s inspired partly by the Scarlet Pimpernel and partly by the movies of Errol Flynn. I thought it would be really good to do a spoof Scarlet Pimpernel rescuing the aristocrats from the clutches of the evil Robespierre. It’s full of fun and it’s for the whole family, so there’s lots of visual stuff for the kids and some satire for the parents.”

It doesn’t sound very Christmassy, but in fact the action takes place over Christmas and revolves around the daring rescue of King Louis XVI from prison. “The story starts on Christmas Eve, and the rescue takes place on Christmas Day,” explains Mark. “There’s lots of references to Christmas as well. We have a nice flashback with Marie Antoinette and King Louis during one of their favourite Christmases. And of course it’s fun and there’s a lot of adventure in it as well.”

As with previous productions, I’m An Aristocrat… has just three cast members playing around 20 different characters. How do they cope? “We have a lot of costumes!” laughs Mark. “There’s a lot of quick changes, so the costumes are designed for coming on and off really fast.”

The script was very much a collaborat-ive effort between the cast and director Abigail Anderson. “We all co-wrote it in rehearsals. I do a lot of improvisations, and we discussed some of the improvisations. Then the designer brought in a mock-up of the set and we worked out ways to use the set and incorporated that into the show as well.

“It’s a multi-purpose set which changes throughout the whole show. Sometimes it’s a prison cell, sometimes it’s the boudoir of Marie Antoinette, then it’s the docks and it turns into a ship at the end.”

It all sounds very panto-like, I suggest. “It’s getting into that area. There’s no ‘He’s behind you’ and ‘Oh no he isn’t‘, but we do encourage the audience to boo and cheer. We were in Nottinghamshire last week, and the audience got really involved. We love it when the audiences join in, because it makes it really good fun.”

If you go to I’m An Aristocrat… you can expect all kinds of skills to be thrown into the melting pot — slapstick, improvisation, physical theatre and even a bit of magical illusion.“It’s the third time we’ve done the Christmas show at the Pegasus and we’re really looking forward to it,” Mark says. “It’s very much in the same vein as What the Dickens? and Grimm and Grimmer. Anybody who enjoyed those shows will definitely enjoy this one.”

I’m An Aristocrat, Get Me Out of Here!

Pegasus Theatre, Oxford
December 6-January 5
Tickets: 01865 812150 pegasustheatre.org.uk