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Actor David Leonard has made an art form out of being villainous in Berwick Kaler’s annual pantomime at the York Theatre Royal. Tony Greenway meets him

THIS really is no way for a grown man to behave,’ agrees actor David Leonard, tutting at himself. ‘It’s a weird way to make a living.’ The thing is Leonard is very, very good at it. Because — boo and, indeed, hiss — he isn’t just any pantomime villain. He’s the pantomime villain at the heart of the most popular panto in the country: the annual Berwick Kaler extravaganza.

Naturally, Kaler, who writes the script and famously plays the dame, is a big draw (with, aptly enough, big drawers) but his stalwart supporting cast — Leonard, principal boy Suzy Cooper, sidekick Martin Barrass and AJ ‘luvverly’ Powell — are regular crowd-pleasers who have become central to the success of the show.

This time they’ll be performing Jack and the Beanstalk and, as usual, Leonard will enter from stage left to ominous music, audience jeers and a puff of smoke, while wearing an outrageous costume and luxurious fright-wig. Once in the spotlight he’ll be ludicrously and gloriously over-the-top, squeezing the comic potential out of each line and relishing every second he’s on stage. Consequently, so does the audience. He gives a tour de force every time.

Yet it’s somehow reassuring to know that Leonard — a West End star who’s appeared in the Kaler panto for around 30 years, on and off — realises the full-on absurdity of his job. And he’s not the only one. ‘When my son was about 14 or 15, I was on stage in the panto and noticed him sitting in the stalls doing this,’ he says, putting his head in his hands and groaning. ‘Because he was suddenly thinking: that’s my dad up there, gyrating in Lycra.’ He guffaws at the thought.