Much practised panto dame Lee Redwood tells Joanna Davis the real behind-the-curtains story of this year's Christmas pantomime at Weymouth Pavilion - from frocks and rainbows to casting the perfect hero.

PANTO season gets underway at Weymouth Pavilion tomorrow (10) with Jack and the Beanstalk.

Lee Redwood, as the panto's dame, director, producer and writer, has a lot riding on its success.

But he sound remarkably relaxed as he manages a few minutes out from rehearsals to tell The Guide what to expect this year.

Besides the jokes, songs and general tomfoolery, there is real visual spectacle to look forward to this year, with a real rainbow among the special illusions.

The process for deciding which panto will be performed isn't easy, Lee said.

"It's a very complicated process because we have to take into account which panto everyone else is doing.

"Then there's the problem of taking into consideration the pantos we have done in the past such as Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin.

"The only one we don't seem to have done recently is Jack and the Beanstalk - it;s a great contrast to last year when we had Snow White and' the Seven Dwarfs, so we've gone from having a story about a princess to a story about a real adventure."

Camaraderie and sense of community among cast and crew is immense, Lee says. After helping to turn on Weymouth's Christmas lights last weekend, cast and crew will also take part in the town's Chase the Pudding and Harbour Swim events.

"Our production team are all local people and I'm from Bournemouth. We think this panto fits in well with the Pavilion ethos.

"We don't have any big names in the cast because we think it makes the ticket prices too high.

"It can be a lot of money to take a family of four to panto so we try to keep the prices down."

Not only has Lee written the panto, he has also produces, directs and stars in it as Dame Trott, the panto dame.

Lee has carved out a bit of a reputation for himself as 'Weymouth's favourite dame'.

He said: "If you go back 25 or 30 years the panto dame you'd probably be watching would be Les Dawson. And there's the Danny La Rue kind of character and the full on drag queens.

"I'm trying to tread the line between the extremes - my dame is very much about the glamorous frocks and the tongue-in-cheek breaking out of character moments and becoming the link to the audience.

"If something goes wrong on the stage I can let the audience know that it's gone wrong."

One of Lee's most memorable moments of the show having to go on was during a performance of Cinderella.

"During the slipper fitting scene as part of it my stocking has to be slipped off and it got stuck which pulled me off my chair.

"My wig fell off and I had these big balloon breasts which were falling out. People still come up to me now and say they remember it.

"Last year I fell over in Snow White and the heel of my shoe fell off. I was hopping around for the rest of the scene.

"But these moments are so funny, a lot of the stuff that happens you want to keep in the show because the audience love it so much.

Chris Carr plays the role of the production's hero Jack - a very different role after he played an ugly sister in Cinderella.

Lee said: "I always think that in Jack and the Beanstalk you've got to have someone who's not the typical hero.

"He's going to go and fight the giant but there's always some doubt. You have to think that Jack is a bit weedy. If he's big, muscular and macho you know that he's going to knock out the giant. I like that Chris plays it a bit more vulnerable and unsure of himself.

"Even Jack's mum doesn't think he'll be able to defeat the giant!"

There's plenty in this panto to keep adults amused, Lee says.

"We've made sure there's something in it for the youngest and some things that only the adults will understand.

"There are some jokes that go right over the kids' heads and then there is the visual, spectacular stuff that the kids just love.

"People don't really do anything together as families any more. They don't watch television together and panto is the one thing where people can come together and watch a show together."

Much of Lee's year is busy preparing for pantomime. He directed the Pavilion's summer pantomime Pirates at the Pavilion and has spent the past three months preparing for the Christmas panto.

"I'm not getting much sleep at the moment but I know that once we get the first night over with we have such a ball and the cast have great fun going out together. There's a very special feel to Christmas in Weymouth."

"I hope people come away from watching Jack and the Beanstalk seeing how good a panto can be - that's the kind of feeling we are hoping to create at the panto this year.

"This panto is a step up from anything we've done before.

"It's a real afternoon of escapism - there's so much rubbish going on in the world but you can come to the theatre for two hours and it's an afternoon or evening of escapism, it can transport you to another place.

"We want people to have the time of their life and for children to want to come back again."

n Jack and the Beanstalk is at Weymouth Pavilion from tomorrow (December 10) to January 1. On Wednesday December 14 at 4pm there will be a 'relaxed performance' of the panto for people on the autism spectrum, as well as those with communication difficulties and learning disabilities.

There will be a special 'Mock Up Matinee' performance on Monday January 2 in which the cast will have a lot of fun and play pranks upon each other.

See weymouthpavilion.com for more information.