EastEnders star Gillian Wright heads the cast for this year’s Stevenage pantomime and said it will be a “completely different” experience to life on the BBC One soap.
The 53-year-old, who played schizophrenic Jean Slater for eight years but left the programme last month, spoke to the Comet during the launch of Cinderella, which comes to the Gordon Craig Theatre on November 30 and runs through to the end of January 2014.
“Panto and TV are completely different but I love them both,” said Gillian, who will appear in Stevenage as the Fairy Godmother.
“With filming you can do a scene and forget it but in this show it’s the other extreme.”
About her soap character who became a household name in Albert Square, she added: “People stop you in the street and call you by the character’s name. Over time you realise how many are affected by the part you’re playing and how important her story is.”
Co-star Paul Laidlaw is back for another show – 26 years after he first performed in a panto at the theatre in Lytton Way – as ugly sister Florabunda, while at the other end of the scale is Cinderella Rebecca Tyson, who performed her first panto last year.
She will be staying with fellow cast member Rebecca Lisewski during the run, after the West End actress moved to Hitchin earlier this year.
Scott Cripps, who earlier this year performed in the Jesus Christ Superstar World Tour, plays Buttons while Dereck Walker completes the line-up as second ugly sister Marjorie.
Tickets for Cinderella range from £10.75 to £21.50. For show times visit www.gordon-craig.co.uk
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