Faith helps Crawley panto star Chrissie Perkins through the tough times

Chrissie Perkins loved her experiences in panto at the Hawth in Crawley last year.
Chrissie PerkinsChrissie Perkins
Chrissie Perkins

This year, after the most remarkable year, she returns to the Hawth for pantomime in very different circumstances.

Dolly Saves Panto runs from Friday, December 18-Sunday, January 3.

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It will be performed by a cast of just five to a socially distanced audience; there will be fewer people than normal in the auditorium to ensure the appropriate distancing between audience members.

“I had toured with Evita so I had been to the theatre before, but it was my first panto there last year, and I loved it. It was great working with the guys who perform there regularly and are back again this year (Michael J Batchelor and Richard Franks).

“This year we have got 70 minutes, and it won’t be the full-blown two-act panto with all the singing and dancing and all the children and all the ensemble. We are going to have to keep all the energy up with just five people on the stage.

“I am a dancer as well so that is exciting. I am hoping that I can continue to run around the stage trying to create a lot of energy that way. I am not a stand-still person! I will take up the mantel of keeping everyone on board!

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“But actually I am really interested in what the mindset of the audiences is going to be. I am wondering whether they will be shy and maybe a bit on guard about letting us into their hearts or will they be completely up for it and just raring to go. I think it will be a mixture of the two. But I do think when you have got people in the audience laughing, they will all just bounce off each other. Laughing has got that contagious effect.”

Chrissie’s role will be as the hero – which is obviously new territory for the principal girl.

“But yes, it says on the Hawth’s social media that I am the hero! I don’t need a boy to kiss and I am not defined by the boy in the show! It is going to be fun.”

Inevitably, it all comes at the end of an extraordinarily difficult year for the entertainments industry.

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“I was on tour just before lockdown happened. I was in Andrew Lloyd Webb’s Musical Gala in Europe. I did that for a couple of weeks after panto finished, and I was with that for six weeks. We finished just before lockdown.

“I am also quite involved in the gig culture. I do themed brunches. I sing at a lot of restaurants. I work in different places… and it was all gone. It was all cancelled. I had to move back in with my parents.

“But you just have to count your blessings and find a way to pull through knowing that the whole world is in the same situation. You are just not knowing when you are going to be able to work again, but knowing that it is a season and that one day that season will end. I am a Christian. I have got my faith and when everything is pulled from under you, my faith certainly helps me. I have been a Christian my whole life and throughout my whole career.”

Tickets at http://hawth.co.uk.Other stage credits include: Ursula and understudy Sister Sophia/Sister Berthe in Sound Of Music (UK Tour); Eva’s sister and understudy Mistress in Evita (UK tour); and Serena in Legally Blonde (Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

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