The Fabulous Josh, as he calls himself, combines the role of panto horse and dame as Curtain Call bring Rapunzel – The Tangled Panto to the Lens Studio, Portsmouth Guildhall this Christmas, promising a fun, intimate, interactive show (December 19-27)
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Philip Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Great
00:06 this afternoon to be speaking to none other than the fabulous Josh. Now, the fabulous
00:11 Josh, you are in Panto in the Lenz Studio Theatre at Portsmouth Guildhall this Christmas
00:17 in Wrapunzel with Curtain Call Theatre Company. You love Panto, don't you? Why?
00:23 I do. I love Panto, but more than I love Panto, I actually love Curtain Call as an organisation.
00:29 Why is that? Because they're just a wonderful place to
00:32 work. It's super community focused and it feels really quite inclusive so that as a
00:37 performer it gives you an opportunity to really flex those muscles. The organisation allows
00:42 for us to kind of play with the material as a performer and really put our best foot forward
00:47 in a kind of supporting and nurturing environment. And when you marry that with working with
00:52 those young performers who are so excited and buzzed at Christmas, it just is a really
00:56 beautiful magical moment. And I get to share that with hundreds of people. It's great.
01:00 You're saying your work generally is in drag and cabaret, isn't it? And there is kind of
01:05 different things, obviously, but there is a little bit of crossover with Panto.
01:08 Yeah, absolutely. One of the reasons why I love Curtain Call Panto so much is that actually
01:14 there is that, like I said, you get to flex those muscles because the audience in the
01:18 Lenz Studio is so close to you. It definitely feels like a cabaret style audience. So you
01:23 have an opportunity to play and to talk to people and treat it as if it's kind of like
01:28 a host gig. I love it. You've just got a storyline and you've just got all the dancing to go
01:32 along with it. So for me, the Panto at Curtain Call is a fabulous, wonderful, inclusive,
01:37 family orientated cabaret show. It's great.
01:39 Brilliant. And who are you playing in Wrapunzel?
01:43 So we always joke about this because I took a year off from Curtain Call last year and
01:47 I'm back this year and I'm playing. So I've been gifted as kind of, in spite, I've been
01:51 playing the Panto horse. So I am the dame but in the form of a Pantomime horse called
01:57 Pegasus, head of the Royal Guard. And I look after all the soldiers in the kingdom.
02:03 Goodness. Tell me a bit more about this horse/dame. It's both, is it? A horse and dame?
02:09 Yeah, it's both of it just chucked together. So Pegasus is quite like a fun character,
02:16 really has an opportunity to kind of like, you know, stand up for what's right, but also
02:20 have the opportunity to chase all the baddies. So there's lots of kind of wonderful physical
02:24 comedy involved as well as the great script that goes alongside it. So you put those together
02:28 and I've got these beautiful little ears that go on my hat and these beautiful, this big
02:31 mane of hair. It's just, it's quite spectacular actually.
02:34 And as you're saying, it's about the campiness, it's about the glamour, isn't it?
02:38 Absolutely. I love it all.
02:40 Brilliant. Well, fabulous Josh. Lovely to speak to you. I hope everything goes splendidly
02:45 and the panto is Rapunzel at the Lenz Studio Theatre at Portsmouth Guildhall from December
02:51 19th to 27th. Great to speak to you.
02:55 See you there.
02:56 Thank you.
02:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]