After over a decade of playing the Dame at Greenwich Theatre’s Pantomime, it’s time for Andrew Pollard to take on a different role.

Andy is a Greenwich institution, having written and directed the panto for 11 years and dons the wig to play the Dame each year.

This time though he is playing the more straight-laced role as the lead character Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days.

The play is based on Jules Verne’s classic book, featuring an ensemble of eight who play over 125 characters over the course of the play.

Andy said: “The play is comedy but I am essentially the straight man where as in the panto I am the one who causes the chaos.”

However as Andy explains, playing the comedic, over-the-top Dame is actually his escape from what he normally plays in his acting career.

He said: “I have been in all the soaps, in Coronation Street, Emmerdale and so on. I get a lot of solicitors for some reason, and headmasters.

“Most of the time as an actor I get roles like great proper Englishmen and this is the way for me to escape and play a completely different role.”

“The panto is my little sort of escape. It really different but that’s the best thing about being an actor."

The crew is currently in Oxford but will be opening in London from August 4 for five weeks at Cadogan Hall.

After that they will tour the country, performing at various locations for a week at a time then moving onto the next spot.

This means it will be the first time in 11 years Andy won’t be performing at the Greenwich Pantomime as he will be in Manchester at Christmas, although he still will write it.

For anyone who is sad at the prospect of Andy strutting his stuff as the Dame though, they can see him in his role in Around the World in 80 Days.

Andy said: “The people who know me at Greenwich who love the panto will love this as it has a lot of panto elements.

“We have had such good reviews and it’s such a great show so if people want to see something like the Greenwich panto they should watch this.”