Tom will be bringing the laughs to Shoreham panto this Christmas

“But I suppose I'm biased,” admits Tom who will be leading the laughs in Shoreham this Christmas. Beauty and the Beast runs at the Ropetackle from December 20-January 5.

“It's a part I've done a couple of times before but not with (Shoreham panto producers) LP Creatives and not in Shoreham, and I don't think I'm particularly much like a comic in everyday life but for panto the energy just comes naturally. The lead comic is the best friend sort of role for the children and you've got to make them laugh. I've done a fair few pantos over the years.

“Once I left university I did a children's show in Newcastle which went very well. I went to Northumbria University and I worked at Northern Stage for the Christmas season there and then I went off and trained for a year at drama school. It was not the thing that I was going towards but the opportunity came up in Chesterfield and then a touring panto. I think I just stumbled into it. I just did a comic gig earlier in the year as Smee in Peter Pan and I suppose I've just found that I am OK at it!

“For me panto is permission to be silly – not that you really need permission! It is just a wonderful time for everyone to enjoy themselves and leave their troubles at the door. It's just about having fun for a couple of hours. There are references in panto to various bits and pieces that going on in the world outside but hopefully always in a fun way and it's just something different to what you do for the rest of the year.”

Of course, panto varies from one panto to the next: “But by and large you have got the traditional elements. You expect to have some good songs and you expect have some good dancing and some audience participation and interaction and that's the thing that I will be leading on a lot this year. You expect some really, really poor jokes but hopefully some good poor ones!”

Would he care to give an example? Well, yes he would. As Tom says: “What do you call a budgie that's been run over by a lawnmower?’ The answer of course is shredded tweet.

“You've got to get the audience going and you've got to get everyone really up for it and comfortable with the call and response element and you've got to make sure there are a lot of jokes and a lot of silliness and a lot of fun. It's all about propelling the story forward. When a scene ends, I often come on all guns blazing to get everyone ready. It's about encouraging the silliness and getting them really up for the fun. Often it is children's first experience of the theatre so it's about letting them know that there are some rules but that it's OK to laugh and shout out and to have a really great time.”