Some may recognise Nick as the hard-nosed market inspector for Walford's Bridge Street market in EastEnders. But his latest acting offering couldn’t be further from Bob Lister’s grey suit and tie as he dons a dress and bloomers and becomes housekeeper Polly La Plonk for Beauty and the Beast at The Anvil in Basingstoke. No stranger to the pantomime, Nick remembers: ‘I did my first panto when I was 30 playing Captain’s Mate in Dick Whittington in 1987 at the Theatre Royal Plymouth; in 1990 I was Wishee Washee in Edmonton; and in 1991 the baddie in Bill Oddie’s Mother Goose at the Shaw Theatre in London. When I was 40, I had the idea of playing a panto Dame but it took three years to find someone to give me the chance. In 2000 I played Nurse Nellie in Robin Hood & The Babes in the Wood at the Salisbury Playhouse and I’ve played Dame every Christmas since - I was last at The Anvil in 2010 in Sleeping Beauty with the wonderful Wendy Craig.’
With an award-winning script, comedy routines and songs a-plenty, audiences are set for an action-packed show. Nick’s favourite routine is with fellow cast member Chris Pizzey, who plays Louis, Polly’s son, he shares: I’ve worked with Chris before so I know what “a little tinker” he is. My favourite bit is the kitchen scene where we get into a bit of state trying to bake some baguettes. Louis says: “No rest for the stupid”, Polly says: “Wicked” and Louis replies: “Cool”. I love this little exchange at the beginning of the scene - it’s such a neat joke.
All this on-stage excitement sounds exhausting and so when it comes to some r&r for Polly, Nick says: ‘I think she’d head down to Lymington harbour - she’s got an eye for the sailors. Or possibly she might take a busman’s holiday and go for afternoon tea at Highclere Castle - it would be nice to be waited on for a change.’
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