A theatre-loving mum and son are preparing to perform two contrasting roles at Sheringham Little Theatre.
Professional actor Oliver Westlake is gearing up for his first ever dame role as Little Jane in the Robin Hood panto which opens in December.
His “am-dram” mum Sarah is currently rehearsing her character Doris, a lonely widow in Alan
Bennett’s bitter sweet comic monologue A Cream Cracker Under the Settee in October.
Although only 28, Oliver is a seasoned performer who first trod the boards in amateur shows 20 years ago before embarking on a drama career and qualifying as an actor in 2018.
It has seen him join the panto casts at the Little Theatre and its sister St George’s in Great Yarmouth four times since – as Morris in Beauty and the Beast, Smee in Peter Pan, Little John in Robin Hood and Colin the Cow in Jack and the Beanstalk.
“I love panto,” said Oliver during a visit to the family home in Southrepps. “It’s so much fun, camp and ridiculous but also puts a social and political commentary on an old fairy tale.
I have never played a panto dame before – though I played a similar part as Old Lady Squeamish in a drama school production of The Country Wife. I’m really looking forward to it, especially the flamboyant costumes and make-up. The hallmarks of a good dame are “good rapport with the audience, and getting them to like you along with “quick wit, and the ability to ad lib,”
Oliver, who appeared in three of the theatre’s summer season plays, now lives in London but loves returning to the theatre which played a key role in shaping his career.
Mum Sarah’s dramatic dabblings began in London, but switched to Sheringham when the family moved to Norfolk in 2001. She has performed Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues before including “Cream Cracker” 15 years ago , and is enjoying relearning it. Doris is an elderly widow struggling to keep her independence including doing dusting which results
in her falling and finding the cream cracker which her helpers should have cleared up.
“I like her. She’s very strong willed but endearing as she reflects on her life and her fondness for her late husband.”
Sarah also played the lead role in Bennett’s The Lady in the Van at Sheringham two years ago. Her enjoyment of acting comes from the love of “being able to be someone else and creating something on an empty stage.”
Oliver’s introduction to the bright lights came when he was aged six and his mum took him to a youth drama group called the Smugglers. Despite their shared love of the stage, Sarah and Oliver have only ever appeared together once, in CS Lewis’s Shadowlands where she was Lewis’ wife and he was the son, when aged about eight.
Robin Hood, written and directed by Nick Earnshaw, runs from December 13 to January 4. Talking
Heads in the Hub, which is a fundraiser event and directed by Libby Henshaw, is on October 11-12.
Tickets at www.sheringhamlittletheatre.com or call 01263 822347
