Pure panto magic when your own children are in the audience

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There will be two very special people in the audience this year for Jacqueline Hughes, the magical Spirit of the Beans in Jack and the Beanstalk at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre this Christmas – her children, aged three and six.

“I think they will come just the once. I don't think my nerves could take it! But I do think that I'm going to feel quite emotional. It is hard to explain to children what mummy does for a job and it's just great that they can come and see it. My oldest has probably started understanding and he's quite good at explaining. He came to see me when he was four. I was doing Mary Poppins at the time and he just sat there for the whole three hours. I think he was just awestruck and he just could not believe that it was mummy up on the stage. And he came to see me again in Hello Dolly and again he sat through the whole thing. I think it was just the whole thing of going to London and seeing the stage. But he has not seen me in panto and he is so excited to be watching Diversity. I think that gives me some mum points!

“This is my third professional panto with Crossroads Pantomimes. I did a lot as a child. I did a lot up in East Kilbride in Scotland and then I did quite a few in Glasgow as a child and then into teenage before I left and went to drama school.

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“It is the magic I love. The Christmas magic. It's fun and it's silly and there is something for everyone and you know how lovely it is, when you’ve got children, when they gasp and when they enjoy something.”

Inevitably taking to the stage and being a mum is a juggling act: “But as an actress you have to decide what is right for you and your family, and with everyone it is totally different. I've not done panto for a few years and this one is quite close to home. I will get to do the school run and I will get to the panto.

“I actually haven't done panto for six years. The last one was in Edinburgh and my son was four months old. So he has seen panto but he doesn't actually remember it! But I think they're just the right age now and it's lovely to be near home. A lot of pantos will take you across the country but with this one it's easy for me to commute from home, to still be present at home and to still be present in pantoland.”

Based just outside Reading, she's only an hour or so away from Southampton: “I have not done panto at the Mayflower before but I have performed there quite a lot of times. It is one of my favourite theatres. It's so grand and so beautiful. I did the opening show for the new refurbishment there and sang on stage. They are just wonderful there and they really look after you. It's a great theatre.”

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The cast includes Britain’s Got Talent winners Ashley Banjo & Diversity and actor and stand-up comedian Kev Orkian as Silly Simon, alongside West End performers Matt Rixon as the Dame Trot, Anne Smith as the evil Mrs Blunderbore and Lauren Hampton as Princess Jill. The show runs from December 14-January 5.

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