Remembering panto legend NIGEL ELLACOTT
In recent years, one man has epitomised everything that is to be celebrated in the unique art form that is British Pantomime as he championed the art form via his website Its-Behind-you.com and continued to perform as a leading Dame each year. It is therefore with great sadness that we commemorate the passing of Nigel Ellacott and reflect on his contribution to the genre and how much he will be missed this upcoming season.
In 2023/24, he played Mrs Smee in Crossroads’ New Victoria Theatre Woking pantomime Peter Pan, alongside Anton Du Beke as Smee and Paul Chuckle as Starkey. It was his fiftieth consecutive year in pantomime and all of his experience and love of the genre was on show. As usual, he included the Dame strip, which used to take him most of the show to dress for, and ended revealing the name of the individual man he had selected in the front row. It was a classic trademark piece of business.
Growing up in Swansea, he watched the annual pantomime at the Grand Theatre from both the auditorium and backstage, and watched Freddie Lees (1920–2015) who he wrote was a huge influence on his career. Nigel belonged to the Swansea Youth Theatre for whom he made his first pantomime appearance. He went on to appear across the UK from Nottingham to Newcastle and Llandudno to London.
He established a wonderful relationship with Peter Robbins (1953-2009) who he appeared with for twenty-eight years, together as Ugly Sisters for the first time in 1981 at the Kenneth More Theatre. They were featured in Channel 4 documentary Pantoland, which followed them around the country in a panto roadshow.
In 2021, he was the recipient of the UK Pantomime Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award, although he nearly missed his entrance that night for the Award at the Trafalgar Theatre as he was on a toilet break! In 2022, he performed in Goldilocks and the Three Bears at Richmond Theatre as Dame Betty Barnum and was interviewed on stage after one performance by Simon Sladen, Chair of the UK Pantomime Association and Senior Curator of Theatre and Performance at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was a fascinating conversation about his love of pantomime and stories from his career. He revealed his favourite Dame role was Widow Twankey in Aladdin and in particular, the scenes with Abanazar.
However, his knowledge and skills extended beyond performance. Nigel designed and created his own costumes, and a selection were acquired by the V&A in 2017. These now form part of the museum’s world-renowned National Collection of Performing Arts, which also features other costumes and designs for Dames including Danny La Rue, Les Dawson and Stanley Baxter. In 1987, he was credited with designing the costumes for the, then, farewell tour of the Rocky Horror Show.
For those who love pantomime, his website, ITS BEHIND YOU DOT COM - The Magic of Pantomime, dedicated to those who strive to keep the magic of pantomime alive, is a wonderful archive record and diary of upcoming shows as well as a record of his career. He disclosed in February this year that he was starting chemotherapy for lung cancer at Barts and was hopeful of returning to the stage this Christmas . On 9 June 2024, he published the news of his marriage to fellow Dame Andrew Ryan on 3 June in Eastbourne and our thoughts go out to Andrew and all Nigel’s friends and family at this difficult time.
All of us who love pantomime will remember Nigel Ellacott this Christmas as we watch the shows and remember his unique contribution to the art form, and we can be sure his legacy will remain though his costume designs, his research and history and through the memories of his great performance over so many decades.
Nick Wayne