There's nothing like this Dame

Like a condemned man, Berwick Kaler is having one last cigarette. Giving up smoking is an annual ritual in preparation for his Christmas job, one that he's been doing for 25 years and probably given more pleasure to more people of all ages than that other Yuletide regular, Father Christmas.

Kaler is celebrating a quarter of a century as York Theatre Royal's pantomime Dame. It's actually 27 years since his debut, but he missed a couple of years while appearing in London's West End.

In those days, he put career before pantomime. Now other acting work is fitted around the three months he spends writing, rehearsing, starring and co-directing the York show.

Anyone who thinks being Dame is simply a case of putting on a funny frock, big wig and too much make-up should speak to him. His pantos have become an institution. People who saw him as children now bring their own youngsters to the theatre. Others travel from all over the country.

That someone from Sunderland should become such a seasonal fixture in York is a surprise, but Kaler takes panto seriously, along with the responsibilities that come with entertaining a young audience.

There is, he believes, no other theatre in the country doing panto like the Theatre Royal. "Gone are the days of full-scale slapstick scenes and transformations. It seems more and more people are reduced to booking soap stars and a front cloth," he says, choosing his words carefully when talking of other pantomimes.

Kaler's acutely aware that every year it's more difficult to be better than the last. "I'm not putting our panto on a pedestal because then there's only one way to go, and that's down. I'm just saying we're giving what every theatre should be giving in a panto," he says.

'All the things we are doing here require a great deal of planning and effort. It's not fair on the audience otherwise. I'm sick of people thinking panto is just for children and it's 'oh yes, he's behind you'. That's an element, but you can digress in many ways."

For many, his "digressions" are what make his shows unique. He's built a team of performers, including David Leonard and Martin Barrass, who've been with him for a decade or more. "Our script requires comedy actors who can perform in panto. It doesn't work with anyone else. You can't treat it like farce, you can't just say lines. In panto you work every line with your body and your soul and vocal chords. It can be the funniest line on the page, but won't get a laugh if you don't work it on stage."

Twenty seven years ago, when he came to the Theatre Royal to play Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, he had no inkling of how much York would influence his career and his lifestyle. He'd played the villain in community pantos which, he says, were little more than vulgarised variety shows.

Then, he had no idea about the great panto days of the early 19th century. He does now. "What I'm trying to do here is take us back to those. I can't go right back because they had transformation scenes lasting half-an-hour and horses on the stage, but we try to do mini versions and be like Dan Leno, the most famous Dame of all, who had a team around him that was experienced in the art of panto," says Kaler.

He began penning the shows through necessity. By the fourth one, he was ad-libbing and re-writing for the cast. Management brought in a writer, but his show didn't work. On the first night, Kaler began deviating from the script, causing the writer to walk out and the director asking him to write the script.

"Like everything else in my life, like playing Dame, writing and acting, it's been forced upon me. I've never in my life said I wanted to be an actor or Dame or planned anything," says Kaler, a former painter and decorator who began performing after answering an advert in entertainment newspaper, The Stage.

"I took the panto seriously when I realised what it meant to the public. Some of the stories about how much it means to people would make you weep. It's just a special bond you can't talk to anyone about. You try to describe a Theatre Royal panto and people will look at you as though you're zonked.

"The responsibility gets greater each year. I'm always aware that you're only as good as your last panto. That's the worry - we have the audience but have we got the show?."

One thing has changed this year. For the first time, the actors were handed scripts a week before rehearsals began. Usually he's finishing it off the night before they start.

There's no one left at the theatre from 27 years ago when he started, and those there now must be aware of his reputation. "They have to live with this maniac," he says, referring to himself. "In my defence, I've never screamed or shouted or blackmailed for myself. It's always been for the panto."

People have asked if his 25th will be the best of all. His answer is that it won't be. Neither will it be as anxiety-inducing as Old Mother Millie, which he wrote to welcome the new millennium."I think I'm too thick to have a nervous breakdown, but that gave me a panic attack. There was no story, and it wasn't based on a fairy tale," he says.

"This is where I'm fairly nave. I honestly thought, not every theatre but certainly a good dozen would be writing a panto for the millennium - and we were the only theatre in the country who actually did it. I couldn't believe that."

Kaler may hark back to the old panto days but his productions aren't stuck in time. Increasingly, he's introduced film. The latest features a transformation scene on film, which has already been shot in a tank in London. That's one reason why Mother Goose will be a technically difficult show.

It adds to the cost, although he points out there's been a ticket prize freeze. "Ours is a very expensive show. All the money goes on the production. I'm the poorest paid Dame in the business," he adds.

Between Christmas shows, Kaler remains a jobbing actor with recent TV appearances in Heartbeat and The Crouches. But the panto comes first. "I had quite a healthy career in the West End, and no longer do that because you have to commit yourself to a year's work," he says.

"It's no big deal. I'm quite happy to do the odd telly or film. Panto is the highlight of my year. I still have a few more left in me. The bad news is I'm only 57 and most actors start doing Dame in their 50s. But I won't go on until I'm in a Zimmer frame."

He still enjoys playing Dame, describing it as "like walking on air". Once the run is over, he leaves the country. "For 12 weeks you live this kind of humour that's a really unnatural way for an adult to earn a living and such an innocent form of entertainment," he explains.

"The only way to get it out of your system is by not only leaving the theatre, but having a good couple of weeks on the beach and let it all drain out of you."

There have been offers to take his pantomime elsewhere in the region. Auf Wiedersehen Pet star Jimmy Nail, with whom he's worked on series such as Spender, offered to stage his panto in Newcastle or Sunderland.

"I thought about it and then it dawned on me - I couldn't take the audience with me," says Kaler.

* Mother Goose's Silver Jubilee runs at York Theatre Royal from December 10 to January 31. Tickets (01904) 623568.