Clive Rowe: Nothing Like A Dame

Clive Rowe is the consummate pantomime dame. Oh yes he is! Described by The Guardian as "one of the greatest ", the Lancashire-born thesp has become a Hackney institution. In the seven years he's been playing here, Rowe has cultivated a loyal local following who turn out in force each Christmas to see him camp up his dramatic chops. Last year it was in Duke Whittington; this year Rowe stars as the lead in the Empire’s production of Mother Goose. It’s the tenth anniversary celebration of panto at the Empire and is a comic caper of epic proportions. Written by Susie McKenna, who’s been responsible for a number of the Empire’s Christmas hits, the show incorporates high-jinks and high drama to charming effect with Rowe the shining star in a stellar cast. He explains: “Mother Goose is about what happens if somebody is given what they believe they want, what happens to them when they get it and how they deal with it. It is what it says on the tin, a family panto.”

Rowe is an accomplished actor whose dedication to panto has brought credibility to the genre. He’s appeared in some of theatre’s best loved productions, including Carousel and Guys and Dolls, for which he won a coveted Olivier Award. “To have your peers that are people that you respect, who are above you and have been doing it for longer than you look at you and say, “we think what you’ve done is amazing”, is an amazing accolade”, he says.

It’s not just the theatrical establishment who've taken Rowe to their hearts - Hackney has too. I suggest it must be his Northern charm. “Init!” he jokes in a sketchy east London accent. “One of the things I’ve always felt about theatre, but is even more true with the Hackney Empire, is the show starts the minute you walk through the front door, not the minute you sit down in the auditorium and the lights go on. The minute you’re received here you’re part of the panto and everybody is working towards a fantastic night”.

Rowe has appeared in television, film and on radio but says he feels comfortable on the Hackney stage. Panto for him is as much a craft as any other kind of acting. “There’s a difficult balance to get where you’re keeping everything panto level because you’re playing to the five year olds but real. The trick is finding that core of it where you may be upset about something but you’re not doing Greek tragedy, you’re not doing Chekov, it’s panto”.

And Rowe loves it. “My thing is I have a great time. I spend all year being told what I can’t do on stage and I get five weeks to do what I want to do. The fact is I’m having a good time.” And so are we.

Mother Goose is on at the Hackney Empire until 10 January 2009.