Award-winning talent show comedian Brennan Reece talks to Viv Hardwick about making his pantomime debut as Aladdin at Billingham Forum Theatre

PANTO debutant Brennan Reece has switched stand-up for knockabout as headline star Aladdin at Billingham Forum Theatre and says: “It’s keeping me on my toes with a lot of screaming kids, which is a lot better than drunk adults shouting things at me”.

The winner of Sky 1’s Don’t Stop Me Now talent competition in 2012 looks much younger than his late-20s and trades on his 15-20 comedy appeal. “I would really enjoy someone asking me for proof of age in a pub or club, but I haven’t got a picture like Dorian Gray ageing in the attic... mainly because I haven’t got an attic,” he jokes.

“I think the best way to approach panto is to jump in with both feet and not be snobby about the whole thing. You’ve just got to try and have fun, and it has been fun so far,” adds Reece about his decision to take on a Christmas season this year.

“I think I got asked in the summertime whether I wanted to do it and luckily I was free at Christmas and I thought, ‘Why not it would be a good bit of experience’. It’s nice having other comedians from a different era to mine in the cast and seeing how they deal with the family comedy situations and learning from them,” Reece says.

The young comedian has been set an interesting challenge because he has a heroic character to play who isn’t traditionally gifted too many funny lines.

“With Aladdin it might be to be nice, sing nice and stand nicely next to a princess. The main comedy is more up to Craig Ansell as the Dame (Widow Twankey) and Barnaby as Wishy-Washy who get a lot of the fun bits with the kids as well as Jake Canuso from Benidorm who is great as the evil Abanazer.

“Luckily I’m not intimidated by a Benidorm barman, but he’s lovely and there’s no pretence there. If I’m scared of anyone it’s probably Craig because his costumes are so massive that they threaten to sweep you off your feet.”

Reece is enjoying the ad-libbing element of the show but hasn’t been looking forward to his singing duties on stage.

“I definitely don’t sing when I’m doing my comedy. That’s the last thing you want to hear, but I did sing when I was a kid and, hopefully, I will get through. I have a princess (Natalie Pilkington) to impress and she can definitely sing. We had a week to get ready and I’m singing a traditional song, A Whole New World, an Ed Sheeran song Thinking Out Loud and Michael Buble’s Just Haven’t Met You Yet. That’s going to keep me on my toes,” says Reece, who admits rushing out to get singing lessons.

“Perhaps it’s better for the audience to go out and have an ice cream,” he jokes. Reece recalls going to see pantomime as a child in Manchester.

“I remember that Sooty was always in them, I can’t remember when, but it was at least 15 years ago. I think I saw a performance of Aladdin at The Lowry and I now have nephews who want to drag me along to pantomime,” says the comic who has nothing but praise for Billingham’s Forum Theatre which he’s never played before.

“I’ve done a few others like Stockton Arc, Middlesbrough Town Hall and I think I’ve gigged in Billingham before, probably at one of the clubs, but this is a great theatre,” he says.

Aladdin is all about the lamp and making wishes. So, what would Reece ask for regarding his own career? “Probably, just to keep working, because it’s so on and off and sort of make your own work. I think my main wish as a stand-up would be for stags and hens not to be allowed in. They just seem to be constantly intoxicated and usually have had too much to drink before they reach the venue.

“Young people like me are incredibly well-behaved and I haven’t even ventured to any of the pubs in Billingham yet,” he jokes.

Reece will be travelling home to Manchester for Christmas Day, but is staying in the region to see in the New Year because he has a booking at Hartlepool Town Hall on New Year’s Day.

Having won a string of comedy awards around the time of his Sky 1 success, the entertainer doesn’t feel under pressure to show why he has award-winning promise. “It wasn’t my choice to win competitions, it was other people’s choice. I just think if you get on with it and do the best you can there’s not much pressure to do your act. If they don’t like it, then they can deal with my mum,” he says.

His next stand-up tour is already virtually written. “I imagine some of the panto coming into it because there are enough big characters out there to make a little routine out of,” says Reece, who prefers to avoid one-liner jokes and prefers a “based-on-truth” funny story approach.

“I think people prefer upbeat acts on a Saturday night rather than political stories, which I don’t really know much about. I actually think that most politicians don’t know what they’re doing either,” he says.

Reece has decided to book a holiday the day after the panto run ends and says that he’s going off to read a book, get drunk and find somewhere with no children. “I feel I may be less child-friendly by the end of the run,” he says.

  • Aladdin runs until January 4. Billingham Forum Theatre Box Office: 01642-552663 or forumtheatrebillingham.co.uk