Interview: Juliet Forster, director of Sleeping Beauty

We Caught up with Juliet Forster, Creative Director at York Theatre Royal and Director of this years magical pantomime Sleeping Beauty.

This is your 6^th time directing a York Theatre Royal panto, what do you love most about pantomimes?

I think it’s the mix of all the ingredients that go into it. You get an exciting, magical story, lots of comedy and you can throw so much into it in terms of variety work. You could add aerial, juggling, acrobatics, we’ve even had ventriloquism in the past. As long as you respect the form of panto, you can be so creative with it. I love thinking about how we can get the most out of every moment.

I also enjoy the magic, the transformations and the wonderful production values and I really love the audience response. There’s nothing better than seeing an audience of all ages laughing and connecting to it, that’s really special.

How do you think pantomimes have changed over the years?

I mean that’s one of the reasons we work with a company called Evolution, the theory is panto should always be evolving, and we should see it like that. All theatre should evolve; theatre shouldn’t stay stuck. I think it’s its very ability to reinvent itself that makes it survive throughout the years.

In terms of what’s changed, I think we have more feisty female heroes than we used to. The female hero would often be a damsel in distress that needed to be rescued, and although there’s still a little bit of that, we have much stronger female characters now. I think that’s a big change. I think obviously the jokes, they evolve themselves because times change and politics change and things are different, so what you laugh at it different. I think those are the big things I can see that have shifted with panto over the years.

What have been some of your favourite moments from previous pantos?

Well, the funniest moment, although this year might top it with something else, was in Cinderella when one of the sisters, which was our very own Robin Simpson, got hold of Cinderella’s invite to the ball and wanted to get rid of it. Robin strode across to the painted fire and sort of put it on the fire and went “It’s not real, what kind of sick world is this!” That was just the funniest thing. It was so surreal, and you don’t often get surreal humour in panto, but when you can land it, it’s just joyful. I think that was the funniest line.

Also having a real dog in Jack and the Beanstalk was just the best, I’d not really worked with animals before, but directing on that and working with the trainer Anna, was just amazing. Anna said that whatever I wanted Zeus to do, she could probably train him to do it.  We got to the point where he was pulling the wig off Robin’s head and running off with it and being really naughty. Seeing the dog really enjoy the laughter and being a little bit cheekier with the audience encouragement was incredible.

I’ve got to pick a moment in each panto now! In Aladdin, it’s got to be the draw dropping 360-degree spin of the flying carpet and hearing the audience’s reaction, it was utterly gorgeous! In All New Adventures of Peter Pan, the flying and a very funny scene in a boat with Robin Simpson, Paul Hawkyard and Jonny Weldon. In my first ever panto The Travelling Pantomime I have so many favourite moments, but it was probably the sheer nature of the project. We were taking this little Christmas gift out into our community, in the middle of a pandemic and just giving people something to make it feel a bit more like normal life again. That was just magical. Too many moments!

What magic can audiences expect from this year’s Sleeping Beauty?

There are two fairies, so double the magic! We have a good fairy and a bad fairy, and the big magic sequence is that a whole bunch of toys come to life! There’s so much magic in this year’s production, but I don’t want to give too much away!

This year’s cast includes new and familiar faces, with new stars like CBeebies Jennie Dale, and YTR panto favourites, Robin Simpson and Tommy Carmichael. What are you most looking forward to about rehearsals starting?

Just seeing what they all bring. I love Jennie Dale, I worked with Jennie on CBeebies Romeo and Juliet which I directed back in 2021, so I knew she’d be a fantastic fit. I think they all bring something different, all six of our principles are very different performers, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they gel and find funny and unique things for themselves. I think panto has that space in it for performers to print a bit more of their own identity onto it and so I’m looking forward to that.

Does the way you direct differ when working on a panto?

I always say to actors at the beginning of the rehearsal that what works in panto is that there’s no subtext, so everything that you think and feel we need to see and see it sometimes in an extremely enlarged form. That is so different, as with any other text, you’re digging down under the surface, you’re making sure that you understand what people’s motivations are. I suppose in that respect it differs; in other respects, you still keep chipping away trying to get the best performances out of people. You have ideas and vision for the piece and how it’s going to hold together and a director’s role is always about bringing all those elements together into one cohesive whole, especially when they are so different as performers.

Pantos are often a child’s first experience of theatre; how do you make sure it’s a great one?

I’d say by having something for every age group and again what I said about no subtext, it makes it understandable for children, and that’s why they can relate to it. There’s nothing kind of hidden, nothing that they’re trying to guess at. The only thing they need to guess at is how we do some of the things we do, some of the magic on stage, but other than that they understand the story.  I think that’s a big part of it and we do always have a couple of good set pieces which are really funny and exciting for children.

What are you most looking forward to about this year’s panto?

We’ve got a slosh scene, a big slosh scene with lots of water! I’ve not directed much slosh before and when I have it’s been more controlled, but this one will have much more mayhem! I’m looking forward to the nice new challenge of that. I’m also looking forward to the fire. We’ve not had much fire on stage before and when we have it’s been a little bit of fire, so I’m really excited to see that and how we make it feel solid within the story.

What would you say to someone considering booking tickets for Sleeping Beauty?

Come! It’s really multi-faceted, Sleeping Beauty is quite a simple story, but that just means that there’s so much other detail and fun and glorious moments in it. There’s loads to enjoy, and it really is good for all ages. I don’t think there’s anything else that I’ve been to when you see four generations of family all laughing and enjoying themselves. And it will live up to everything that’s gone before… and more.

Sleeping Beauty is at York Theatre Royal from 02 December to 04 January.