The Arts Centre, Hounslow is hosting its smash-hit, annual pantomime, from Thursday 28th November until Monday 30th December 2024. Now celebrating its 10th year of professional pantomime, Robin Hood is The Arts Centre’s largest production to date. We sat down with Jonathan who plays Will Scarlett in Robin Hood.
A dedicated actor and artistic director with a diverse career in the performing arts., Jonathan began as an assistant stage manager in 2006, working across the UK and Europe before training as an actor at Redroofs Theatre School in 2008.
In 2012, he co-founded London Contemporary Theatre and served as Artistic Director until 2016, when he became Artistic Director of The Arts Centre, Hounslow.
This is The Arts Centre’s 10th year of producing pantomime, and you’ve been part of all ten productions! How has the experience evolved over the years, and what makes this year’s Robin Hood particularly special for you?
It’s been a massive, massive journey. The first year we did it, it was like on breadcrumbs. We were really using anything we could find, and we were learning big lessons on how things can go wrong but also how things can work. I don’t think I’d look back at the first year now and say “oh, that was rubbish.” It wasn’t- it was great for what we had then. I think that’s the beauty of being able to grow as a company- to be able to look at what we have got now and go “how can we make that the best we can possibly make it?” I think that’s been the beauty of the Arts Centre pantos- is that every year people come in and they can see that absolutely 110% has gone into these shows. It just brings a lot of heart into it.
The 10 years have been amazing. It’s been amazing to see the audiences grow. Literally. Some of them that were children are now adults, and they’re bringing their children. It’s been amazing to watch the shows grow in size. It’s also been amazing to watch cast come in right at the start of their careers, and now if I go to shows in the West End, I see one, two or three cast members that have been in Arts Centre pantos- now right at the top of their game. Or on Instagram, you look and they’re travelling across the world performing. I think that’s the main thing. If someone can have a starting point at the Arts Centre and carry on to have a career in it and manage to make success of it, then it feels like you’ve really been able to play a very small part in that. That’s something to really take pride in for us.
Pantomime is known for its high energy, humour, and audience interaction. What’s your favourite part about performing in a pantomime, and is there a particular moment in Robin Hood that you’re especially excited for audiences to see?
It is known for those things, and that is the reason I love it so much. My personal favourite bit of the journey of making a panto is getting to the point where you start to play with it. That doesn’t mean you’re changing the script, changing the lines, changing the show, but it means you’re finding moments to play. That could be a slightly different look, a slightly different thing, or just the fact that you’ve eased into it and actually now you’re really finding the humour in the scenes. I really love it when you get to a point where something can go slightly wrong but you can riff around it. Something is said slightly differently but you can riff around it, or the audience throws something at you. The element of play is my personal favourite bit. The best way of that happening for me is when the audience get really involved. That happens a lot, which is great fun.
The show brings the classic tale of Robin Hood to life with music, comedy, and action. How does this production stay true to the legend while also adding a unique twist that will surprise audiences?
I think it stays really true to the heart and the adventure of it. It stays really true to the underdog, misfit energy of Robin Hood. With Robin Hood being sort of a myth and not actually a story to base on- there’s a lot of different stories- it means it’s quite hard to stick to any one thing. So you’ve kind of just had to go “okay, well we’re going to run with the heart of what it represents, and then create a story around that.”
I guess the area that might be the element of surprise to some people coming in is that Maid Marian is taking a huge part in the adventure in a way that hopefully the audience will expect to see because it’s 2024, but also might not expect to see and that’s really exciting.
Hounslow’s pantomime has gained national recognition, even competing with some of the biggest theatres in the UK. What do you think makes this production stand out and resonate so strongly with both the local community and wider audiences?
It’s crazy. It blows my mind a little bit still, because we just do the best we can. I think that’s my ethos towards it and every time we go into it, I try to push that to everyone else. Don’t focus on what other people are doing- if you focus on what other people are doing then you’ll end up trying to compete or start comparing yourself. But actually the only thing we can do is just do the best that we possibly can so it’s been absolutely lovely that then that has gained national recognition. The fact that we’ve been up against theatres like the London Palladium in an award like that is just mind-blowing for me. And I don’t think that will ever properly settle in, because again, we just do the best that we can do. And I guess that energy is why the Arts Centre pantos get to where do and have the spirit that they have. We just try and do the best that we can do with what we have, put everything into it, and then we end up with something really great.
For first-time panto-goers, what should they expect from a performance at The Arts Centre, and do you have any advice on how they can best enjoy the interactive elements of the show?
Audience members should just throw themselves into it, put their phones down and put them on airplane mode for a couple of hours, and just get lost in the story. I think that’s the thing that we get fed back to us from first-time audience members. Kids will throw themselves into it- they’ll get in there and they get captivated. Their imagination runs with it. But it’s the parents that come on a Sunday morning and think “oh well, this will entertain the kids for a couple of hours,” and then two and a half hours later they’re going “I had such a great time!” And I think that’s it for the parents, you know- put your phone down and enjoy that magical moment with your kids if you’ve got kids. But also adults come as well! Panto has something for everyone. There’s bits in there that will go over the kids heads and there’s bits in there that will make adults feel like an eight year-old again. So just go in and leave everything outside the door and really throw yourself into it would be my advice. No one’s watching you. No one thinks you’re going to look silly. If you’re in there on your phone then you’re going to look like the odd one out. So just get in there and get stuck in!
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Fantastic article well done Jono,if it wasn’t so far away I would have loved to see the play.
Gilly