CityLife

Interview: Sue Devaney

Sue Devaney in Sleeping Beauty

One of the great north west theatrical success stories is the annual traditional panto at Oldham Coliseum.

So popular has it become, in fact, that a whole other tradition has grown up alongside it, that tickets for next year’s pantomime go on sale on the first day of this year’s!

So, last Saturday, as this year’s panto Sleeping Beauty opened, so too did the box office for next year’s traditional extravaganza, Dick Whittington, which runs from next November.

Eager panto-goers queued outside the Coliseum’s doors from 8.30am in the morning ready for the box office to open at 10am despite only finding out it was Dick Whittington when they eventually got to the counter to book their tickets.

Incredibly, it made over £18,500 on the first day of sales and, including reservations, over 1,500 tickets had already been booked by the time the curtain went up that evening!

That incredible loyalty is a two-way street. Last year’s panto was Mother Goose and, despite last year being the worst winter in decades,  not a single one of the 79 performances of Mother Goose were cancelled!

This year, it’s the turn of Sleeping Beauty, complete with wicked witches, evil spells, hazardous spinning wheels and generous helpings of pantomime magic.

The cast includes Sue Devaney who will stepping into the evil shoes of wicked fairy godmother Carrabosse and Fine Time Fontayne returns to play the Dame, having appeared in both Mother Goose  in 2009 and Aladdin in 2008.

Ashton-under-Lyne-born Sue, a familiar face from such TV hits as Coronation Street, dinnerladies and Casualty, is no stranger to the Coliseum herself, having previously played there in Cinderella, Good Golly Miss Molly, and Wake Up Little Suzie.

“When I was young, I went to Oldham Theatre Workshop too,” she reminds me.

“I wanted to be creative. I wasn’t very academic, and had no interest, but I was very interested in the arts.

“I knew that it was what I wanted to do from being seven years old. And Oldham Theatre Workshop was always somewhere to go and be able to express yourself.”

In fact, that’s part of the appeal of the panto, too, she believes, as “children in the audience also get chance to take to the stage by taking part in the traditional song sheet. So if you have someone who’s a budding singer or someone who longs to tread the boards, it’s an ideal opportunity.”

Primarily, though, the success of Oldham’s panto especially is that “it’s all about it being so much fun. It’s something for the whole family to enjoy”.

She remembers appearing in panto at Whitworth Civic Hall. But the first Christmas show she actually saw herself was, “The Gingerbread Man at Bolton Octagon, which I suppose isn’t especially typical as it’s a bit more of a horror story really,” she laughs.

She has just finished a hugely-successful tour in the stage version of dinnerladies, and there might be a tour next year of a new show called dinnerladies – Second Helpings.

But, like many people, Sue  is worried that the arts, including live theatre, is taking such a beating in the current climate of cuts.

“It really upsets me that we are making theatre really difficult for people to go and see. The ticket prices are so high. How can anybody working a nine-to-five job afford to go to the theatre very often? People have to pay for petrol and shopping, so obviously theatre won’t be top of their list of priorities. If ticket prices were brought right down, then all the seats would be filled.”

And, apart from Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty (“like everyone says, it’s fantastic fun playing a baddie!” she enthuses), what would her dream part be...?

“I’d like to play Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, because I love a good fairy story! I’ve always wanted to play it, I love Shakespeare. My first job at the Royal Exchange was in Love’s Labour’s Lost, with Bernard Bresslaw. I played Moth and had a fantastic time.

“But I just love coming home. It’s great because my friends can come and see me and I can go home at night and sleep in my own bed. Having your own space is lovely!”

Sleeping Beauty is at Oldham Coliseum until January 8, 2011; Dick Whittington is at Oldham Coliseum from November 26, 2011.