Written by Artistic Director Lawrence Till, the production promises the most traditional of pantomime fun – a great story, corny jokes and catchy sing-a-long songs.

The eleven-strong cast (plus two teams of local youngsters in the chorus) is made up of talented actors, singers and dancers, including Stephen Ashfield who was most recently seen playing Boy George in the UK tour and West End production of the musical Taboo - which he describes as "the other pantomime!".

But this will be Stephen's first traditional Christmas pantomime experience and he told us all about what we can expect and the challenges he is facing. These include flying on stage and trying to get back to his home town of Glasgow for Christmas
Day!

And the challenges started right from the day of the audition!

"I'd never been available to do a panto before, but I knew I wanted to do this one when I auditioned and met the team that were doing it" explains Stephen.

Rod Arthur as Mother Goose

"I went into the audition with my welly boots" he continues. "I knew I was supposed to be a ploughboy so I came in and did the Billy Connolly song.

"After their mouths were hanging open for about 30 seconds I managed to get them into it a little bit, but you've just got to be remembered really."

Advice

He got this advice from the legendary musical theatre star Julia Mackenzie who once came to his college.

"For the first audition she went to, somebody said 'make sure they remember you' so she went in and dropped all her music on the way to the piano" reveals Stephen.

"But it wasn't until she actually started auditioning that she realised that everyone dropped their music!"

Stephen WAS remembered by the Mother Goose team and is now playing Colin the "ploughboy" in the pantomime.

And while everybody knows roughly what to expect from the principal boy, there are a few surprises in store that will require Stephen to get down to the gym!

"I'm kind of the romantic lead" he explains. "I want to get married to Jill because I've been in love with her for ages! But I'm a bit scared of Mother Goose and I have to go and get the goose who lays golden eggs to claim my reward.

"But I get to fly as well and I've never flown before. I go up in a hot air balloon to go to Gooseland (obviously-ED!) which is on the other side of the moon. But I've got to get a bit more fit for that.

"The guy who plays Jack has done it before and he says that you have to become very centred so I'll be getting my stomach muscles all toned up" he adds.

"But if I have to show my stomach there may have to be a bit of shading to make a six pack" he laughs!

Modern

The show is described as traditional panto with a modern twist and Stephen explained what this means. All the panto elements are there, plus some modern songs that everyone will recognise - from Britney and Jamelia to Elvis!

"It's based on one of the original Mother Goose productions at Drury Lane" he says, "but it's been modernised and we've got pop songs, lots and lots of jokes and all the panto stuff you'd expect with loads and loads of audience participation.

"The pop songs are fabulous" he continues. "We've got to do it for over a month so they've chosen really great songs so we don't get bored of them after a week!

"There are some Take That numbers and I've got a little Justin Timberlake bit to do."

And if the flying is going to be a challenge for Stephen, he'll probably find the musical element a little easier as he's a trained classical singer!

In fact, he was once tipped to be the next Russell Watson!

"I don't know who wrote that" he laughs, "but I did train as a classical singer and there were some exciting things happening at the time, but I've kind of left that behind and I'm really more interested in acting now."

To that end, Stephen trained in musical theatre at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he was taught for a while by Mary King from Channel 4's 'Musicality' programme.

"It was a great course and it got me my agent and the whole thing has happened from there" he says.

"I just kind of got the acting bug. I hadn't done a lot of acting when I was studying as a singer and it was something I always wanted to try my hand at."

Lucky

Stephen was lucky enough to get a job in the West End just after leaving college, and got so much exposure that he has been working ever since.

"I was really lucky to get a part in a musical with a really good acting part so that people could get to see me" he explains.

That musical was Taboo. Written by Boy George and based on the Eighties club scene, Stephen played George in both the West End production and the UK tour and was actually picked by the 80s icon himself to play the part. Not only that, when George played the part of club owner Leigh Bowery in the West End, Stephen shared a dressing room with him.

"That was really weird" says Stephen, "because I was being dressed up as him as he was there next to me. But he was fine - really helpful.

The Goose

"He got to choose who played him in his late teens early 20s and at the auditions they dressed me up as him and asked me to do some poses. I got the part!"

He says that it was a wonderful experience.

"It was a really good fun show to do and uplifting at the end, as well as being a great acting role" he says. "So many musicals now are just a vehicle to hear all those old songs.

"For example, in 'We will Rock You' the music's fabulous and stands on its own. For Taboo, George wrote all the songs for the show and worked really closely with Chris Renshaw the director to make sure that it was quite true to real life."

Dash

Another challenge presenting itself to Stephen over the festive period is his aim to get home to Glasgow after the shows on Christmas Eve and be back in time for the Boxing Day matinee.

"I've never not been at home at Christmas" he says, "so if I can get in a car and zoom up the road I should be there before Santa arrives!

"I'm frightened to fly in case the weather's bad and I can't get back, so I'm looking to hire a car. It's quite a drive - I've only done it a couple of times and I never break the speed limit! I'll have to get up really early on Boxing Day though!"

Stephen is delighted to be involved in the first Watford panto after the refurbishment and it's fair to say that there's a real sense of excitement from everybody surrounding it.

"The theatre is beautiful" he says. "They've spent so many millions on it and it looks stunning. I went in the auditorium for the first time the other day and it just looks amazing - including that artwork on the ceiling!

"It's just fabulous to be involved in the first pantomime for two years."

Mother Goose runs for 63 performances at the Watford Palace from 3 December 2004.

The cast includes Jonathan Glew who was part of the Olivier Award winning Jerry Springer The Opera company, Marianne Benedict who also appeared in the Palace Theatre’s opening production The Country Wife and experienced pantomime Dame Rod Arthur in the title role.