After hundreds of frock changes, decades of in-jokes, countless singalongs and not a single identifiable plot, Berwick Kaler is to retire as York Theatre Royal’s resident panto dame. He will hang up his trademark ginger wig after this year’s show, The Grand Old Dame of York, which is his 40th at the theatre and his 50th pantomime in total.
Kaler, who had heart bypass surgery before writing and starring in last year’s show, said that the audience’s passion for panto is what has kept him coming back. “The audience have always given me the nod and the wink, saying ‘that’s great’ or ‘you’ve gone too far’. Every line is written with them in mind.” The Grand Old Dame of York opens in mid-December and runs until the start of February. It is, says Kaler, “a culmination of every pantomime I have ever done at York in as much as it has no story, no plot – and it’s absolute rubbish”.
For many York residents – and fans further afield – it isn’t Christmas without Kaler. After playing one of the Ugly Sisters in his first York panto appearance in 1977, he became a festive fixture, only missing two years in the 1980s when he was performing in the West End. He also writes and co-directs the surreal and anarchic annual productions, which start with him greeting the audience with the catchphrase “Me babbies, me bairns”. Bottles of brown ale and a hoard of Wagon Wheel biscuits are among the other staple ingredients for the shows.
Kaler, 72, was born in Sunderland and worked as a painter and decorator before he made his panto debut aged 19 in a production of Babes in the Wood in Manchester. He played baddies in commercial pantomimes for years before arriving in York. His co-stars at the Theatre Royal have included regulars such as sidekick Martin Barrass and villainous David Leonard, while 1979’s production of Dick Whittington found a 21-year-old Gary Oldman playing his cat. Pierce Brosnan was once an assistant stage manager on the panto and, early in his career, Old Vic artistic director Matthew Warchus built its sets.
Damian Cruden, who has co-directed the panto for the past 21 years, said: “Berwick has served the people of York and York Theatre Royal with absolute commitment for 40 years. He is due a rest. The pressure to recreate the panto each year is unrelenting and he takes making the ‘rubbish’ seriously … He has a sixth sense as a performer that is most rare. He has eyes in the back of his head for a joke and understands timing better than Big Ben. That he hangs up his boots this year is sad for us all.” Cruden added that “we will continue to produce pantomime of the highest standard that is made with love, affection, care and skill. No, we can’t replace him but we can take his passion forward and honour his work in doing so.”
