Swindon panto rehearsals get underway starring Adam Woodyatt

EastEnders Adam Woodyatt takes on the role of the the hapless henchman Chambers alongside Jenny-Ann Topham who plays the Wicked Queen and both actors admit they revel in playing villains.

For Adam, who has had his fair share of dramatic roles in the BBC TV soap, the panto is not too different.

“I do seem to specialise in being the lovely rogue villain, oh yes I do,” he said playfully.

“The challenge with panto, or any role where you’re playing the bad guy, is that you still need to engage with the audience on some level, but with panto the bad guy always redeems themselves by the end, which I think helps.

“Traditionally the character is meant to have a nasty streak, but this has been written to be more comedic, which is a side I don’t get to show very often in my TV work,” he said.

“Chambers isn’t a villain as such, I like to think he’s fallen in with the wrong crowd, or The Wicked Queen in his case, but his heart is in the right place.”

Wicked queen Jenny-Ann first auditioned for the part eight-years ago but says the producer told her she was too young and too glamorous.

“But now she has obviously decided I am old enough and ugly enough,” she chuckles.

“I like playing the villain. She gets to be really strong. It’s a real buzz. But the trickiest thing is the light and shade for me. Deciding what to play tongue-in-cheek and slapstick and the bits where I really have to shout, be evil and tell the story.

“But I’m in a couple of the comedy scenes too which is nice and I try it on with the prince a couple of times.”

And she had a confession.

“I have actually never seen Snow White or done it before so I had to quickly watch the Disney cartoon to remind myself of the story and get it right,” she said. “I should be fine now.”

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opens at the Wyvern Theatre on December 5. Visit swindontheatres.co.uk or call 01793 524481 to book.