Janine Pardo is a Maid Marion for our modern times in Robin Hood: The Pantomime, the Christmas spectacular at Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre this year (December 5-January 5).
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Keerik, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspaper. It's really
00:06lovely to speak to Janine Pardo, who is Marian, Maid Marian in Robin Hood, the Worthing Panto
00:11moment this year. And you were saying just now a really intriguing thing. You had a year
00:15off from Panto last year, and you felt a little bit underwhelmed by Christmas, not knowing
00:20quite what to do because you were not doing Panto, which kind of underlines just why Panto
00:25is so important to you. Why is that then?
00:28Absolutely. I've done Panto for many years, about 20 years, and I think Pantomime is such
00:34a beautiful tradition here, and it brings such joy to everybody. It's a wonderful escape
00:40at Christmas. And it's so magical, not only being in it, but hopefully coming to watch
00:45it. And so without it, Christmas seems so empty. So yes, it's wonderful to be back.
00:52Yeah, you've learned that lesson. You're not going to give yourself another Christmas off.
00:58No time off allowed.
01:01And you've got a lovely role in this one. You're going to be quite an independent,
01:06strong, well, a very independent, strong-minded Marian, aren't you? Why is that important?
01:12I think it's really important in the modern world. This Maid Marian is fiercely independent.
01:19From the moment we meet her, she's standing up for injustice. She's fighting for other
01:24people. She has a really clear idea of what is right and wrong. It's a wonderful moral
01:29for the children. She also, despite falling in love with Robin, she remains fiercely independent,
01:36and she doesn't rely on any man, you know, and she doesn't even want to rely on Robin.
01:41She makes it very clear to him all the way through that she can do everything on her own.
01:47And the roles, you know, it's very, there's a lot of equality there.
01:53And if anything, she very much takes charge.
01:56It sounds fabulous. And you've got happy memories of Worthing. You've done Worthing
02:00Panto before, a while ago. Yes, yeah, I'm thrilled to be back. So I think it was about 11 years ago,
02:09I was in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Connacht Theatre with Charlie Dimmock.
02:14And so it's amazing to be back. I'm loving being here in the theatre because it's just
02:21the most beautiful view over the sea. You couldn't get any better, could you?
02:29Fabulous. Well, have a very happy time in Worthing this Christmas.
02:32Really lovely to speak to you. Thank you very much indeed.
02:35You too. Thank you.