Upclose with Hong Kong Players' Stephen Bolton
The Hong Kong Players’ ever-popular annual pantomime is being staged in mid-January, due to the machinations of the WTO (“boo, hiss!”). Stephen Bolton wrote and stars in “Sleeping Beauty” as Dame Jurassica. Bolton told Alexandra Carroll about the joys of panto, cross-dressing and bra stuffing.
HK Magazine: Who is Dame Jurassica?
Stephen Bolton: Anyone who watches [the British comedy] “Little Britain” will recognize her because she’s a “laydeeee.” She’s the oldest of the three good fairies and she tries to be the conscience of the other two - but she could be more accurately described as an annoying old cow who tries to keeps the others in line. Dame Magnifica is a flamboyant show-off and Dame Terri is a trainee. She doesn’t know how to be a proper fairy and is taken aback by the other Dames’ political incorrectness. Terri is American and is reflective of the Americans who just don’t get what panto is about.
HK: What’s not to get?
SB: More Americans see the show now, but when they first arrive they are baffled by all the conventions. The fact that all the Brits in the audience seem to know all the rituals – like it’s some part of a cultural memory. They’re shocked that you’re actually allowed to heckle - it’s quite liberating for the audience.
HK: Do any audience members get a bit too liberated?
SB: Four years ago there was a guy who looked like he’d been drinking since about two in the afternoon. At one point he told Snow White to eat the poison apple because no one would care if she died anyway. He loved to make the kids cry.
HK: Are the dames a friendly lot?
SB: They have a very complicated relationship. Jurassica gets slagged off for being too old and wrinkly. Magnifica is told that she is so fat she needs her own postal code. And Terri gets slagged off for being American and naïve.
HK: Are you all terribly lady-like?
SB: We’re all around 6ft, aged from 25-40 years - definitely men. There’s no way we could get jobs in Pat Pong as lady boys. The make-up is pretty intense. And our fake bust is just a strap-on bra. It’s like two volleyballs encased in fabric. It’s really not too uncomfortable and other people can have naps on them.
HK: But you love the drag, don’t you?
SB: It’s a blast. Just as the audience get to behave more extravagantly than normal, so do we. And it’s strangely liberating to be in an 18-inch wig, a fake bust and platform shoes.