INTERVIEW: FAYE TOZER CHATS TO NOTTINGHAMLIVE ABOUT APPEARING AS THE WICKED QUEEN IN FAIREST PANTOMIME OF THEM ALL AT THEATRE ROYAL NOTTINGHAM THIS CHRISTMAS

Faye Tozer brought some early Christmas sparkle to Nottingham recently as the Theatre Royal unveiled the cast for this year’s magical family pantomime.

Outside of the Steps-phere, Faye has also enjoyed an extensive theatre career, starring to great acclaim in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s one-woman musical Tell Me On A Sunday and Singin’ in the Rain at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre. In 2018, Faye took part in the sixteenth series of BBC1’s primetime show, Strictly Come Dancing. Coupled with Giovanni Pernice, the pair sashayed into the final and wowed audiences with their incredible footwork, only narrowly missing out on winning the coveted glitter ball trophy. NottinghamLIVE caught up with Faye who is dressed in character as the Wicked Queen, to chat about her career so far and what we can expect from this year’s panto. Oh yes we did!

NL: Welcome to Nottingham again!

Faye: Yes I know it’s funny to be back actually. I’ve done lots of bits and pieces here but haven’t actually spent some downtime here and gone around the shops. Usually when I come in, it’s for a Steps gig or something, it’s been sort of in and out. When I’ve done musicals here. You stay for a week or two weeks, and we get to discover it a little bit. So yeah, I’m gonna get that chance

NL: Will your family be with you?

Faye: Not with me, no, but they will be coming to see the show. And yeah, they will stay with me for a couple of weekends. Ben will be at school and Michael will be at work, but when they get the chance they’ll definitely be down. It’s quite lovely that it’s (Nottingham) is right in between my northern family and my Southern family. So no excuses, everyone has to come to me.

NL: We know you probably best from Steps as that spans a lot of years. How do you see yourself now? Do you see yourself as Faye from Steps? Or are you Faye the actress or the musical theatre star?

Faye: Oh, I think it’s pretty much 50/50 Isn’t it? I think Faye from Steps will always be with me. And I like that. It’s my alternative surname. But, you know, I’ve probably had an equal time on stage treading the boards, doing musicals and plays and what have you. So yeah, half and half. I think.

NL: You’re busy lady

Faye; I am. I find it difficult to say no, to be honest. It’s been really interesting times, you know, through the pandemic, and I think when we were able to get back on the stage again, and the phone rang, I said yes to everything. It was so exciting to be able to go out and perform again live because we did a lot of things sort of remotely and from our homes and what have you, but there’s nothing that beats live theatre, and live performances. It’s just a totally different energy and way of working and I absolutely love it.

NL: Do you think the pandemic changed audiences?

Faye: That’s an interesting question. I feel like from what I’ve experienced, because I was doing Singing in the Rain in the South. When we opened last summer, that was brand new. There weren’t many theatres opening and it was still tricky times. But I think everyone’s so grateful to be there. And I think as an audience member going to see different productions you know, we bounce out of our chairs and we give a roaring applause for everyone there just because it is joyful to be back

NL: We heard you say that you’d been in panto since you were little. Do you remember the first panto you saw? Was that what started it all off?

Faye: No. I was in a panto before I saw it. In fact, I haven’t really seen that many pantos, but I was six years old as a little dancer in Luton and my celebrity was Davy Jones from the Monkees and I sat on his knee as he sang Daydream Believer. That was cute. And yeah, I just thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t really remember many Christmases without panto. It’s kind of in the blood. I kind of feel a bit lost if I don’t do it.

NL: You look incredible. Where do you get your energy from?

Faye: I think I’m very similar to my dad, actually, my dad is like Tigger. You know, he’s still bouncing around and I think it’s something about keeping busy. I think I’m naturally Skippy. I don’t know, but I’m very much like my dad.

NL: And you lost your mum recently.

Faye: I did. And, you know, she was the one that put me on the stage and thoroughly enjoyed everything that I did. And was so proud of it. So I kept myself working and kept myself busy because I think that’s what she would have wanted. And it’s also a wonderful distraction, and she would have been really proud.

NL: So what can we expect from the panto? Will there be some Steps songs or Strictly dance steps?

Faye: Somebody asked me that. And I said, I’m sure that I’ll be able to put some little moves in there somehow. I’m really excited about this year’s Strictly. It’s always fun to see who’s going to be up there. So I’m definitely gonna have my eyes on that. But Steps songs of course, you know, when you get a member of Steps in your panto of course there’s gonna be some songs. We’ll probably be doing a nice little medley of all the old classics so people can join in.

NL: You’re playing a baddie this year. Do you prefer playing the baddie?

Faye: Yeah. Yeah, it’s nice to do something polar opposite to what people expect of you or how they usually perceive you. So it’s really fun to get your teeth into being nasty.

NL: So people in Nottingham should all come and see the panto. What can we expect?

Faye: Oh, wow. I mean, obviously, I’m going to enjoy being the queen, but we’ve got the amazing Joe. Pasquale. When I got the first phone call saying would you like to join Joe in Nottingham, I jumped at the chance. He is a legend. He is going to be lighting up the stage and lighting up my experience of this panto because he’s just so sweet, but so off the cuff and you never know what’s gonna happen with him. So he’s gonna keep us all on our toes. And I think every show is gonna be different because of the way he is and so I’m excited about that.

But I think I’m really excited for getting families together, to come down and have something really really fun, escapism and to have a really fun interactive show. You can bring the tiny little ones because they are allowed to scream and boo and fidget and do whatever they want and have a nice happy experience. So come down and see us.

LISTINGS INFORMATION:

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

Theatre Royal Nottingham

Saturday 3 December 2022 to Sunday 8 January 2023

For performance times, please visit venue website www.trch.co.uk

£21.50 – £42 plus discounts for Royal Members*, Under 26s, Families, Groups and Schools

www.trch.co.uk Box Office 0115 989 5555

Accessible Performances:

Sign Language Interpreted: Thursday 15 December 2022 1.30pm, Sunday 18 December 2022 1.30pm, and Friday 6 January 2023 7.15pm

Audio Described: Saturday 17 December 2022 2.30pm, and Sunday 8 January 2023 1.30pm

Relaxed Performance: Wednesday 4 January 2023 2.30pm

Captioned: Saturday 7 January 2023 2.30pm

*Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham Royal Membership scheme offers benefits including ticket discounts and exclusive pre-sales. For more information please visit www.trch.co.uk/membership