CULTURE EDITION
MATT CROSBY 5 minutes with
The Arts Theatre Cambridge’s resident dame celebrates 20 years of pantomimes
car… by mistake. I’m still in contact with Mike and I’m always keen to remind him that he got me arrested for a few hours. The show was magical. For me, it ticked every box and was the kind of show I would have been spellbound with, had I still been a child. The second show that stands out is Dame Trott’s Panto Palaver in 2020. I think it was one of previous chief executive Dave Murphy’s favourite shows too. The whole country had been locked down for a year… and suddenly, we had a chance to do what we’d been trained for. I cried on stage during every curtain call while Lucy May Barker sang Thank You for the Music , as an impending second lockdown edged closer to Cambridge. CE: Any bloopers you can admit to, for our amusement? MC: Where do I start? The year we were doing Jack and the Beanstalk , I had a wardrobe malfunction. I was in a popcorn box that was so large and stiff that I could hardly move in it. Tony Christie was in the cast and, after he finished one of his hits, I slipped and fell on stage. I couldn’t get back up! So finally, I was dragged off stage and hoisted to my feet by two members of the crew. Sometimes I have a little potty mouth and there was a time when, as I was standing in the wings, I was laughing and joking with a cast member when I was told to stop speaking because my mic was live and had been projecting a dirty joke to the entire audience. I tend to keep my mouth shut nowadays! CE: After this, your 20th year, will the show go on? MC: In terms of me returning? As my children say, ‘I hope so!’ For tickets, visit artstheatre.co.uk What I love most is how you can get away with murder (not literally!)
CE: Have you given each one a personality of her own? MC: I haven’t. The Dame is me or a
Cambridge Edition: Where and when did your acting career start? Matt Crosby: To be honest, I don’t know when I caught the bug to become an actor. I know I was young. I had a fascination with film and especially the cinema from a very young age. I loved the atmosphere. Theatre trips came when I was a little older and, obviously, it was always pantomime. I remember them being bright, safe, loud and fast. When I reached secondary school, I lost interest… but never with acting. I joined the Young Gateway Theatre in Chester at 11, which was led by a fantastic, chain-smoking, hungover, potty- mouthed tutor called Roger Jonas. He was fabulous. He lived and breathed theatre. I remained with the Gateway throughout school and college. It became my safe space and the theatre became my church. Unfortunately, shortly after leaving for the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, the Gateway took its final bow – but what an incredible grounding for theatre it gave me. CE: What is it you love best about the role of Dame? MC: OK, so I love the costumes and I love the makeup and how it creates a mask to hide behind in order to become an alter ego, but what I love most is how you can get away with murder (not literally!).
version of me. A bloke in a frock. But I am, quintessentially, my mum, my sister, my nan and my aunts – I think my Dame has elements of all the women in my family. The thing is, as the titles change from year to year, the Dame remains constant. She is always the same, like a family member you only see at Christmas, slowly getting greyer. MC: The first was Robin Hood . It was my second outing as Dame. Mike Fentiman directing. Two weeks before rehearsals, we’d met at the Bath House to read through our script. The evening had started so well. It ended with us in the back of a police CE: Which years have been your standout favourites?
TO THE NINES Matt Crosby (top) performing as Widow Twankey (middle) and Gertie Goose (bottom)
24 DECEMBER 2025 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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