Actor David Leonard tells Steve Pratt how, after 18 pantos, he's perfected the art of being a baddie.

DAVID Leonard has been getting away with being bad for the past two decades. Every year, the Middlesbrough-born actor does his best to ruin people's Christmas as the villain in York Theatre Royal's pantomime.

He's become one of the regulars, alongside Berwick Kaler's Dame and Martin Barrass as his/her silly son. He's still the "youngster" of the group, having notched up 18 pantos to Barrass's 20 appearances and Kaler's amazing 26.

It was, however, with a certain amount of trepidation that "at the tender age of 26", he approached his debut show, Sinbad The Sailor, in which he played "some sort of evil warlock". He'd played the Good Angel and Lechery in Dr Faustus at Nottingham Playhouse and was put forward for the York pantomime by its director. "I don't know why he thought I could play a baddie," says Leonard.

These days, panto veteran Kaler has a say in casting. Back then, he had to make do with what was given. Leonard and Barrass approached the audition with a certain amount of trepidation because of the Dame's reputation.

"We were terrified because I'd heard from a friend who knew Berwick that the panto was good but that he could be difficult. Martin had heard the same thing," he explains. "Then in Berwick walked in a white cap with a dog and I thought, 'What have we let ourselves in for?'."

In the event, the three hit it off and have been together ever since. York panto without them is unthinkable. Leonard missed two shows in the early days - one because he was touring in Guys And Dolls, the other because he wasn't asked. "They wanted someone else and it was a disaster," he says with the understandable trace of a smile. "The director didn't think I could play Abanazar, which I have done since."

As Kaler writes the script, he ensures roles are tailored for his regular cast. These partners in theatrical crime are inseparable around Christmas time, with Leonard turning down other roles to be free for the York production.

"I would never do another panto anywhere else because I don't think they're as good and also, there's the rapport you have with the audience," he says.

"I just enjoy doing it really. I was born just outside Middlesbrough and went to school there, so it was always a family time doing panto here. My kids love it up here. They like to spend Christmas in York."

The process starts months earlier with Kaler ringing him up to relay ideas, and usually ends with him singing down the phone to Leonard. Come rehearsal time, the team has just two-and-a-half weeks to put the production together.

"It's a huge show with enormous sets and the only time of the year when the flying tower is crammed with backcloths. As well as all the dialogue, there's all the technical stuff," says Leonard.

"I fly in this year on a broomstick. The costumes are huge and restricting. There's an ultra-violet scene, film sequences, a chase involving revolving doors and the slosh scene.

"It always amazes me that we put this show on in just two-and-a-half weeks. It's like a big musical with lots of big effects. The theatre has a small wing space on stage right so everything is very choreographed backstage."

The show is Sleeping Beauty. It was going to be Cinderella until it was discovered that the Grand Opera House down the road was doing the same panto. The Theatre Royal volunteered to change theirs.

Leonard's villain is Evil Edna who, if I understood correctly, changes herself into her son in the second half, which is set in the 1960s. At some point, he metamorphoses into Hips Libido, who sounds the perfect character to indulge in Leonard's trademark hip-swivelling, and then into Rolf Harris.

He's perfected his panto villain over the past 20 years. "The one in Sinbad The Sailor was a really straight villain on the page," he recalls. "I had some ideas how he should be, a cross between Donald Sinden and Kenneth Williams. To me, it read like a camp villain. Berwick quite liked it and saw that Martin and I brought something to the show. You have to with a Berwick panto."

A group of scouts did once get up out of their seats and threaten him, but Leonard feels his villains aren't really nasty "although some kids do cry".

He has firm views how audiences should react. "I don't think they should frighten children so much they hide under seats. With me, they feel as though they can have a go. They want to challenge you," he says. "People should boo the villain and find him funny."

* Sleeping Beauty runs at York Theatre Royal until January 29. Tickets (01904) 623568.