Viv Hardwick talks to publicity officer turned panto dame Steve Luck about his new life in greasepaint

He's Luck by name and luck by nature. Former Darlington Civic Theatre publicity officer Steve Luck is returning to his home town theatre to make his large-scale theatre debut as Dame Gertie Gemmel thanks to a little good fortune.

The 6 foot 2 inch performer admits he'll probably be the tallest dame on stage this Christmas as he stars in Goldilocks And The Three Bears alongside TV's Lisa Riley.

"I'll be more like 7 foot 2 inches with a hat, wig and high heels, " he jokes.

Luck will be staying with his mum Margaret in Willow Road, Darlington, during the December 4-January 18, 2004, panto run.

He worked at the Civic for nine years until 1991 and survived a redundancy scare at York before returning as company manager of Dick Whittington for panto producers Qdos in 1998.

"The dame Tony Peers was taken ill and I found myself reading the lines at the side of the stage and running on in a skirt. I don't know how I got through it, " says Steve. That led to a reawakening of his stage ambitions which had been put on hold while he moved into theatre management at a time when Darlington Civic made national headlines with 98 per cent attendances.

"I know that the company manager had the power to stop the show but most of the time I was stuck with a lot of clerical work and unseen jobs. Now I don't mind turning into a person who is sitting in a dressing room in a wig, with time to make a cup of tea before I go on."

His stage career took off when the company was short of a dame for a publicity picture and Luck has been dressing up as an ugly sister or a dame ever since. He admires Les Dawson's comedy female routines and has been given some help and advice by panto dame expert John Inman. The 45-year-old is looking forward to working with former Emmerdale and You've Been Framed star Lisa Riley and reveals that the director for Goldilocks will be Karl Howman - still famous for his sitcom character of Jacko in Brush Stokes and appearing regularly in a certain flash cleaning advert.

"It was always a dream to appear in panto on the stage at the Civic since I watched Sleeping Beauty with my grandmother when I was about three or four years of age, and now it's come true, " adds Luck.

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