Pantomime Press Launch: Dick Whittington - An interview with Leanne Campbell

Dick Whittington Cast Photo Call - Albert  Dock Liverpool

I cannot believe that it's that time of year again, when panto season looms and tickets for said event go on sale. I certainly did a double take when I received the invite from Andrea Langley, Press Officer at Liverpool Empire.

It was a great privilege to attend the launch which took place at Blue Bar and Grill on the Albert Docks this lunchtime and to catch up with the delightful Leanne Campbell who will be playing Alice Fitzwarren.

The panto runs from 12th December until 3rd Jan and First Family Entertainment have announced the fabulous all-star cast for Dick Whittington.

Casting
Coronation street star Sally Lindsay is making her debut pantomime performance and will perform the role of Fairy Fazakerley. Eric Potts, also famed for his part in Coronation street will appear as Sarah the cook. Pete Price plays Alderman Fitwarren, Kurtis Stacey the title role of Dick Whittington, Warren Donnelly as King Rat and Liam Mellor as Idle Jack.

Me and Leanne Post interview

I had absolutely no reservation about interviewing Leanne, well apart from me not recording the interview correctly on my device. As soon as we got to chatting about the pantomime, Leanne's passion for her part in the panto was palpable. She was all smiles and full of exuberance, she was so kind and attentive to the questions that ensued, Leanne answered my questions about her forthcoming role as Alice and her love of entertaining. 

Interview:
Shazney: What do you love about performing in panto?

Leanne: Everything, everything about it. I started watching panto's when I was five, so I'd come every Christmas eve with my nan and grandad to the Empire to watch the show. That feeling, I can only describe it as when we did Peter Pan a couple of years ago and I did the opening number. When the gauze went up and Katy Perry's Roar played, you could hear the audience go "Ahhh". That's how you sum it up It gives me goosebumps thinking of it now.  No matter how much sleep you've had or  how tired you are, you've done two shows back to back The minute you hear that audience reaction "Ahhh" - it's just a spectacle.You come out and you look on your Twitter and you've got tweet after tweet, saying that the children loved this part and they laughed so hard at that part. Every show is different. No two shows are the same. You never get bored and you never know what you're going to get. You've got a live orchestra, so you are singing live every night. I think it's just very different to what I do every day. I never planned to do radio. It's sort of going back to my roots doing panto - that live audience and seeing a reaction. It's just amazing to me. My first performance was in Dick Whittington at the Empire. I was a little rat, a little black cat suit with a rats head. So, it goes to show that you can go be the little rat and blossom to be the princess years later.

Shazney: What advice would you give to aspiring actors and actresses?

Leanne: Do you know what? I teach, not as much as I'd like anymore but when i did used to teach, I always used to say to the young ones, Don't aspire to be famous. Anyone can be famous for any reason you know, some good reasons and bad reasons. Don't aspire to be famous, just aspire to have a job that you jump out of bed to go and do. If you are good at it great, if you're not good at it, you can learn and you can practice. Attend every class and you can  keep practicing. You don't have to be born with a gift. If you love theatre or if you'd love to be on TV or be a singer, you can work at it. It's something anybody can do if that's what they really want to do it. It's about having the right attitude. There are so many knocks and people always want to put you down but if you do want to do it, work hard and learn your craft. Aim to have a job that you love rather than be famous.

Shazney: How do you keep grounded?

Leanne: I was never thrown into this. I started touring with musicals when I was ten. It's always been my lifestyle and I was in Children's Ward as a 16 year old on TV. So it's just something I've always done. It's nothing new to me and I've never been in a huge role on TV where I've earned loads of money or anything like that, so it's never altered my lifestyle. Maybe if I was thrown into it, I'd be a bit more starstruck by the whole thing and think it was a bit more important that it actually is. I'm from a family of dockers. As a family, we are all pretty grounded. So my children will I hope be exactly the same.

Shazney: You have a strong work ethic, how do you manage to juggle everything and learn lines for panto whilst being a busy wife and mum?

Leanne: I'm the most dis-organised person in the world but I think part of that is how I manage it. If I looked at a week's worth of what's going on in my life, I would probably have a heart attack, so I tend to just look at it on the morning and say, right, what have I got on today? It comes from going to theatre school full time. I went to Elliott Clarke school of dance full time. It's been a full time job for me since I was a child. i feel blessed every day. I'm doing something that I love. I work with people who are so supportive. In radio City, I've got like my boss who's got children, I've got Dave who's got his dog and we all have this really healthy work life balance. So, I think that it helps that I've got people around me who I can trust and who help me out. I've got my mum, my sister, my husband who does a 9 - 5. He's organised  and organises a lot for the kids.  I'm just so grateful.

Shazney: What's next for Leanne Campbell?

Leanne: I'm hoping for a couple more years at Radio city, that would be great and I'm hoping to stay on Breakfast Radio. I'd like to do a bit more TV. I took my foot off the pedal when I had the kids, so once they are a little bit older, it would be lovely to do a bit more TV. If things stay the same for the newt few years, I would be thrilled.

In summary
Leanne is such a humble, grounded lady who has considerable talent, yet she holds it down and continues to have a strong work ethic and delights the audiences of Liverpool each morning with her breakfast show with co-host Dave and year on year in panto. It was great to catch up with her.

Tickets are now on sale for Dick Whittington here 

Leanne Campbell - Alice Fitzwarren