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Britt waves her magic wand at the Shaw |
Sitting on the stairs with Britt the fairy godmother
IT’S not hard to pick Britt Ekland out from a crowd. The porcelain doll features, chi-chi designer clothes and pedicured chihuahua are all dead giveaways this side of LA. When we meet at the Drill Hall theatre in Bloomsbury last week she is also clutching a large silver wand with a star on the top, as if one might have failed to spot her otherwise.
“Shall we go to the dungeon?” she asks coolly. “Or shall we just do it on the stairs?”
Precluding any confusion, she waves her wand at the stairs.
“Come on,” she says, making little kissing sounds with her lips. It is not clear whether she is talking to the Chihuahua or me. The real reason for the wand, of course, is that Ekland is rehearsing for the role of Fairy Godmother in The Shaw Theatre’s Christmas pantomime, Cinderella. It may come as a surprise to some, but the 66-year-old Swedish actor – star of two cult classics of British cinema, Get Carter and The Wicker Man – is a panto veteran, as archetypal of the British Christmas as boiled hams or the Queen’s Speech. Since 1992, the former Bond girl has toured England in 15 different pantomime productions, including Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk, Mother Goose, and Snow White (she played the Wicked Queen).
“Panto only works in England. If you haven’t grown up with it it’s difficult to understand why it’s so loved. When I first came to this country I thought they were so bizarre but once I realised what it is I absolutely loved it,” she says as we take our seats on the stairs. Somewhere nearby a children’s choir is rehearsing Show Me The Way to Amarillo. Tequila, the chihuahua, is looking distinctly unimpressed with the dog treats I brought for him – apparently he prefers “little cooked chicken breasts”.
Ekland pats her lap – this time definitely looking at Tequila – and the poodle dutifully jumps into it, joining an illustrious list of artists and musicians to enjoy such close proximity to Ms Ekland.
Ekland adores London’s “consistency” – “you can be 100 per cent certain that somewhere in the city there’ll be roadworks” – though she still spends the summer months in Sweden. She initially agreed to do panto to overcome her stage fright, yet over the years she has become something of a fairy godmother figure on the circuit.
“I make sure the young performers aren’t being taken advantage of. I was so naïve it was unbelievable. I hadn’t even lived with a man in my life. I went straight from my parents’ home in Sweden to marriage to Peter Sellers within 10 days,” she says. “It’s a good thing I was Swedish. A lot of people couldn’t deal with fame on that level, that exposure. It’s very difficult to survive in this business for as long as I have, but I’m very grateful that I have.”
Then she shoos the dog off her and announces: “OK, back to rehearsals. Time to go.” This time she is talking to both of us.
SIMON WROE
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