Ministry of Fun have been teaching actors to master the role of Santa ahead of the upcoming festive season. We spoke to Father Christmas himself.
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00:00 Well, we're here for the Ministry Fund Santa School, which is an annual Santa School that
00:08 we hold where we train performers in the art of portraying Father Christmas, which is obviously
00:14 a very important role, because then only if they pass the training and are deemed good
00:22 enough will they go out and meet children, because we take it very seriously, because
00:26 every child that meets Father Christmas, as far as that child is concerned, is meeting
00:30 the real Father Christmas. So there's a huge responsibility that they have. So we train
00:35 them in the art of being magical and warm and wonderful and give them lots of do's and
00:40 don'ts of how to do that effectively and make it a really special encounter. The vast majority
00:47 have a performance background, which is sort of inevitable. There's actors, lots of actors,
00:53 who find that this is a role that they haven't played before and fancy playing, because it
00:57 really is a very rewarding role, because you're getting to portray somebody that people already
01:04 love but also means a huge amount to them, so the stakes are high, because you're meeting
01:08 a child or children who are in front of their hero, so you've got that importance that you
01:15 don't spoil that, and if anything, you just enhance it and make it grow and make that
01:21 experience one that they'll remember forever.
01:24 This year will be 20 years. I absolutely love it, that's why I keep coming back every single
01:31 year. It's the highlight of the year for me. The best thing about it is that every single
01:37 family that you see and every single child that you see is an individual experience just
01:41 for them. Sometimes for actors, if you do a show in front of lots of people, you have
01:46 to do one set thing, whereas when you are Father Christmas, you can just be whatever
01:52 they want you to be and how they want you to be. So if you've got little ones, you
01:56 can be absolutely magical. If you've got slightly older ones, you can be a bit more fun. If,
02:02 as happens quite a lot, you get ones in their late teens or twenties that get dragged in
02:07 by mum and dad because they've done it every year for 15 years, you can have lots of fun
02:11 with the whole family.
02:12 I don't think it's ever been difficult. Even during Covid, we did some on Zoom, which in
02:18 a way was quite freeing because the children didn't have to go out and the parents didn't
02:24 have to find parking and go and see Father Christmas. You were in their house, so you'd
02:28 have the call and the children were showing you their pets and their garden and their
02:32 football.
02:33 Lastly, obviously a busy couple of months for you now, but what does Santa do for the
02:37 rest of the year?
02:39 Well, when you have as many mince pies as I do on Christmas Eve, it takes a while to
02:43 sleep it off, I'll be honest. Normally the Easter Bunny gives me a shout about April
02:48 and you get up and have a bit of a lie down. But you have a little bit of a relax, but
02:54 by the time it gets back to December again, you're itching to get back in the sleigh
03:00 and get back and see the children again. You're always looking forward to it.
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