ECHO 28/12/05

The panto – working in a strange mind-set now, a corrupted space where my creativity is being held somewhat in check. Why? The actor playing the other ‘high comic’ role (the Jester) has taken to appropriate any gag or small routine I improvise or come up with – examples:
- my comic character turn when we are told the evil witch may be behind us but isn’t, he now apes that;
- my ‘premature’ gag in the slosh scene when our stooge may start to dribble too early the slosh from his giant syringe;
- the ‘let’s moo-ve’ gag given to me by one of the stage hands and taken off me after the first time I delivered it and now appropriated by himself and set in as part if his routine;
- the now infamous ‘bench’ line that he decided would be his in rehearsal despite it being in my script which has never made sense to anyone as to why he says it as well as me;
my silly bouncing and lolloping walk when I am spooked by a ghost in the evil witches lair;
all this places me in a position of not putting anything new out for fear that it will be taken the next time by him and I then have to think of something more to put in – why this need to steal? Where is the actors sensitivity and own playfulness (which actually he does have because I have seen it and he can be very funny without assistance from me!). Is it a desperate need to look good at all times? Insecurity? Some say that imitation is the best form of flattery – I am not so sure, for it makes my life harder!