Decade of delight

TEN years of pantomime and performance record-breaking at Newcastle Theatre Royal have put father and son act Clive Webb and Danny Adams into the unique position of knowing that they are the stars of the best Christmas show outside London.

The fact that the hard-working pair, who have forged a formidable reputation thanks to the enthusiastic support of Wallsend-born West End producer Michael Harrison, are unknown by the majority of people outside Tyneside is just another part of the incredible story about two men who started as Jill Halfpenny’s comedy support act in 2005.

“It is a lovely feeling and we are proud of the pantomime because Danny, myself and Michael all started at the same time and we never envisaged it becoming as big as this. It’s huge. It’s a wonderful feeling, but it is pressure. When we first started here the show arrived in two articulated lorries and this year there is seven,” says Webb on the eve of opening in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Adams adds: “Ten years ago we came with a load of material we’d done for years and routines we honed and toured with. After the third year we’d used them all. So, every year we’re having to come up with something different. It also gets more physical because we’ll introduce an acrobat routine and I’ve had to learn that and then there was tap dancing one year, and I had to learn that. Each year, you think, ‘Oh God how are we going to top this, last year we pulled the whole cloth down?’ Things are becoming more dangerous and you do push yourself more.”

His stunts this year include falling into the orchestra pit from the stage and his landing area is only a couple of feet square.

“So, you’ve got to get it bang on every show or it’s going to hurt,” says Adams.

So far, the younger member of the duo has damaged both knees permanently, and suffers with ankle and back trouble as a result of “being silly over the years”.

“Deep heat and ibuprofen will get me through. When I was 18 I broke my ankle doing pantomime in Wolverhampton. I jumped down the last couple of stairs at the curtain call and caught my leg. I broke my ankle and tore ligaments. Dad had to go on without me and did the whole act for four weeks while I was on crutches and in plaster. The theatre wouldn’t let me go on, while my dad would be different. It would be a case of ‘If you ever break a leg don’t think you’re having a show off’. It would be a case of strapping it up and off you go again,” Adams jokes.

He says his Charlie Drake-style of comedy is hard to do, but rewarding. Few people on the panto circuit now do the big water slosh routines and physically hard stunts.

“When we tour the Circus Hilarious there’s a lot of mess and set and you can see why people decide not to do these routines because of all the bother. We want to keep it going because we feel it’s what people want to see,” Adams says.

Such is the importance of the Newcastle panto that meetings about script and content started in March each year rather than October. There will also be two or three meetings about the production during its run and trips from London to the North-East to ensure nothing is left to chance.

“The challenges have changed because we go to different towns a lot. In the past we’d done pantomime in Wolverhampton, Hastings and Rhyl. When we came here we had our routines and for the first two or three years we said, ‘We’ll do that’. Now, we’ve done everything in ten years and we’ve got to keep on coming up with new things. This year, everything we’re doing we’ve never done before. So, it’s going to be nerve-racking on the first night,” says Webb.

The apprenticeship of Webb (real name George “Tony” Potts) has seen him go from pop drummer to head clown at Robert Bros Circus to TV’s Opportunity Knocks, Crackerjack, The Sooty Show, Razzamatazz, How Dare You and Tiswas before becoming British Magical Champion in 1988. I tease the Sunderland-born entertainer about not living up to his Makem roots and sabotaging any Newcastle success.

“I am a proud Mackem, but I have a real soft spot for Newcastle because my dad used to bring me to pantomimes here – and also at the Sunderland Empire – and I can also remember seeing Laurel and Hardy here in the 1950s, who have a place in history similar to Elvis and The Beatles. I have a lot of sentimental value for the Theatre Royal,” he says.

Webb adds: “This year will also be the most props we’ve ever used and it’s been pandemonium in the run-up to the first night.”

Adams adds: “What’s strange now is that years ago, before we came here, you’d have an idea that was so absurd and you’d think it would be so difficult to do. Now, I tell Michael (Harrison) that I’ve got this idea for the main cloth to fall down and the set crumbles and it’s totally off the wall. And Michael says, ‘Leave it with me’, and next day it’s done. It’s like being in a giant playground.”

The pair are proudest of the relationship they’ve got with the North-East audience and that the area has taken them to their hearts.

“People come up to me and talk to me as if they’ve known me for years because it is ten years and eight-year-olds are now 18. I got into a taxi the other day and this burly driver with tattoos turned round and said ‘accident’ (Adams catchphrase in panto) and it’s moments like this that make it all worth it,” says Adams.

Such is the power of Clive and Danny, who have sterling support from Newcastle dame Chris Hayward and Whitley Bay baddie Steve Arnott, that Theatre Royal boss Philip Bernays has already announced ticket sales for next year’s pantomime Dick Whittington before Snow White even started.

“I was talking to the marketing department and I’m amazed at how many tickets for 2015 have already been sold. People haven’t seen this one yet and it could be a load of rubbish... it won’t be of, course,” says Adams.

He feels that their previous pantomimes elsewhere and Circus Hilarious and Butlins’ tours has given the pair enough of a national following to ensure they can fill theatres in many places now.

“We haven’t done a lot in the North-West over the years but we still have a good following there,” he says.

Asked about his love of ever-louder explosions and water fights on stage, Webb says: “There’s nothing like a good bang to do you the world of good. The audience know what to expect and turn up with their macs, wellies and umbrellas. The ones that want to get soaked or invited out of the audience are the ones that buy tickets for the front rows (of the stalls). We did seven years at the Hippodrome in Great Yarmouth and Danny and I used to turn the hosepipes on them and all that sort of thing and you couldn’t get a ticket for the front rows. I could never understand it, but we think the anticipation of getting wet is what does it.”

n Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs runs until Sunday, January 18, at Newcastle Theatre Royal. Box Office: 08448-112121 or theatreroyal.co.uk. Dick Whittington runs November 24, next year, to January 17, 2016