MARION SAUVEBOIS chats to Wyvern regular

HE has been on the receiving end of rapturous cheers, applause and the obligatory booing and heckling – an occupational hazard for any pantomime dame.

And David Ashley has relished every moment of it. So much so that the actor returned to the Wyvern stage – his all-time favourite – for the fourth year earlier this month, as part of the cast of Dick Whittington.

“I have done panto for years and I have never met an audience like Swindon,” he said. “You say ‘Hello Swindon’, and you’re just hit with this wall of sound. You then have to say ‘I didn’t hear you’ but you really, really did. They just get so into it.”

David, who plays Sarah the Cook, previously performed at the Wyvern as an Ugly Sister in Cinderella in 2011, Abanazer in Aladdin in 2012 and Dame Trot in Jack and the Beanstalk last year.

“To keep coming back really is a dream come true and I just love the audience,” he said.

“This year’s show is brilliant – it is fast-paced and 25 per cent of the pantomime is music. I love it.

“Pantomime is sanctioned lunacy. There are no boundaries. I mean... I’m a man dressed as a woman! What I love about being the dame is I have this brilliant power. I’m an 8ft woman!

“I get to play with the audience and I can stop the show. The weird thing is last year when I went into the audience and sat on some of the men’s laps they wouldn’t let me go.”

David trained at the Tanwood School for Performing Arts and made his pantomime debut in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Wyvern in 1986. His most recent performances in Swindon were alongside TV personality Keith Chegwin.

This time round, he plays opposite former Coronation Street loverat Nigel Havers, who stars as King Rat.

Since the launch of the show on December 6, the pair have been well supported by a strong cast including Linda Lusardi and Sam Kane’s daughter Lucy Kane, who takes on the role of Dick Whittington’s love interest, Alice Fitzwarren.

The pantomime also stars returning actors Lewis Barnshaw as Simple Simon and Suzie Chard as Fairy Bowbells. Kristian Morse is the eponymous Dick Whittington.

David will invite fans to watch him prepare for his performance in Dick Whittington and transform into Sarah the Cook at a free event called From David To Dame at the Wyvern on Tuesday, December 30 between 11.45am and 12.15pm.

They will have a chance to ask him questions about the role and his acting career.

Dick Whittington runs until Sunday, January 4. To book visit swindontheatres.co.uk or call the ticket office on 01793 524481.

From David To Dame takes place at the Wyvern on Tuesday, December 30 between 11.45am and 12.15pm. To book call the ticket office on 01793 524481.