‘It’s not Christmas without panto’: Steps star Faye Tozer and fashion expert Gok Wan give us the lowdown on the Birmingham Hippodrome festive showstopper

Singer and actor Faye Tozer is no stranger to pantomime – having first stepped onto the stage as a child performer.

“I did my first panto when I was six, I was a little dancer on the stage in Luton,” she recalls. “As a child it was such a brilliant experience to be onstage and in front of those lights and the energy of the audience and I think that has never really gone.”

Faye is perhaps best known as a member of chart-topping pop band Steps but she has also built up a successful stage career in shows such as Tell Me On a Sunday and Singin’ in the Rain as well as pantomimes across the country.

This year she plays Maid Marion in Birmingham Hippodrome’s panto Robin Hood, sharing the stage with Gok Wan, Matt Slack, Matt Cardle, Sandra Marvin, and Andrew Ryan and guest star Christopher Biggins.

“I think there is a part of me which doesn’t feel it is Christmas without panto,” says Faye. 

“Especially in the darker months when it’s dismal and grey outside and damp, for me to jump around in sequins, having a laugh with some brilliant people on stage is just such a wonderful tonic for my soul. I hope that we are spreading joy over the Christmas period as well.”

Faye toured the world with Steps but finds theatre particularly rewarding.

“I think musical theatre and all theatre is more demanding physically and mentally,” she says. “But then I think I get a lot more satisfaction in other ways with theatre - doing it live every night and having that routine and pressure, the adrenaline. 

“With Steps people know what they are going to see and they are choosing to come and see you because they like you already. But with theatre I am constantly having to prove myself as an actor and a singer and being able to reach the people who may not be Steps fans, or have never heard of Steps or may not know who I am. That’s a lovely challenge for me. I love to have that variety and prove to myself that I can do these things too.”

Faye believes there is a special skill to pantomime performance.

“It’s all to do with comedy and working out how you are going to bring as much joy to your audience as possible. I think you have to understand the comedy in panto and be able to laugh at yourself and play along.

“Especially with the celebs that go in, we’re there to set up the jokes and then the resident comedian is there for the punchlines. If you’re really good at it, it’s brilliant.”

And she promises her Maid Marion will be no pushover.

“Whichever character I play I bring a bit of feistiness to the stage, I’m not going to just sit back and look pretty, there’s always going to be some opinion and attitude going on. I think it’s going to be really good fun telling this story alongside some brilliant people onstage.”

Gok Wan grew up watching pantomimes in his home city of Leicester and was eager to give it a go. After successfully fronting the television show How To Look Good Naked he made his pantomime debut at Birmingham Hippodrome in 2013 as the Man in the Mirror in Snow White – an experience which was made into the Channel 4 documentary Gok Does Panto.

“I was doing a charity gala at the Palladium in London and was in a huge line-up with very big names and I was sitting next to Louie Spence and Lionel Blair who were both talking about panto,” Gok recalls.

“I said, ‘hold on tell me about this panto business, because I do love panto, ever since I was a kid I’ll always go and see a panto’. Had I not been part of that charity gala, had I not sat with Louie and Lionel then I would never ever be here now.”

Gok, who plays Gok Scarlet in Robin Hood, went on to star in pantomimes not just in Birmingham but across the UK.

“Now it’s time for me to return to Birmingham,” he says. “This is where I cut my teeth as a panto performer and I’ve gone away and I’ve gone all over the country and now I’m back. Also I’m a Midlands boy so it’s like coming home. I’ve worked in Birmingham the whole of my life, such as when we did How To Look Good Naked at the Bullring, so it feels like a full circle experience.

“I love the fantasy and the escapism of panto. I love Christmas anyway and with panto we get to have Christmas for weeks and weeks and weeks. And I love the joyfulness and the silliness on stage. 

Panto is all about excess which, Gok says, is right up his street.

“I love showing off and for any panto performer it’s the ultimate showing off experience – you get to be silly and you get to tell a story, it’s like being a child again. When I was younger I was constantly being told not to show off - and in panto you are told to show off more!

“With my character, audiences can expect campery, companionship, storytelling, hopefully a bit of fun and humour and a lot of silliness. 

“They kind of give me carte blanche to let me play around with the character as much as I can so I’m always playing a version of myself in pantoland. Whether that’s the Fairy or the Spirit of the Ocean or Gok Scarlet, they allow me to be as Gok as possible and I think people want to see that.”

And he says audiences are in for a treat with Robin Hood.

“Come and see the panto because it’s going to be an explosion for the eyes, ears and every single one of the senses. It’s a great story, we all love the story of Robin Hood because it’s a real story of hope and success and the underdog comes through as the winner.”

Robin Hood plays Birmingham Hippodrome between 20 December and 1 February. For more information and tickets go to www.birminghamhippodrome.com or call 0121 689 3000.