The panto season may be drawing to a close but features editor Rachael Gordon was determined to have some thigh-slapping fun before the curtain came down on a seasonal Snow White.

“There’s no business like showbusiness” the Peterborough Evening Telegraph writer confessed – before stepping out to tread the boards for a chance-in-a-lifetime performance.

Rachael said: “So what led a shy, retiring journalist like me to head for the bright lights of the theatre?

“A charity performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to raise money for our lifesaver appeal, and a boss who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Not even my fairy godmother could save me, as I headed down to the theatre to find out about my role.”

So she took the costume of one of the regulars and was even given one of her less-taxing lines: “Hello Nelly, hello Dan. Come on – you’ll be late for the party.”

But Rachael said: “After squeezing into the blue corset I went away feeling like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Twelve words, that’s all it is, I kept telling myself.

“But that didn’t stop the panic.”

So after meeting the rest of the cast, practicing her breathing and singing, it was time for the rehearsal.

“All I had to do was smile, take a bowl to the prince, take it back to the wings, come back on, hand the prince a napkin then run across the stage and take a flambé pan from butler Jeeves.

“That was when he introduced me to two more lines. ‘Your coat sir’ and ‘Supersoft of Velvet’, as I run across the stage with two toilet rolls in hand.

“More words? Was that in my contract?”

For the second act she had to carry a board with the words of a rhyme on it, then play a scary ghost, utter a single line and the part was finished!

Evening came, the five-minute warning and then curtain up. The audience wasn’t that scary, and the lines came easily.

The board scene went fine – even if it was the wrong way up and Rachael only lost her cool when her skirt fell down seconds before she was due on stage in Act two.

But the professionalism of those on stage bought her time for repairs – and Dan and Nelly were in danger of “missing” the party instead of “being late” for it in the panic.

Still, the big-hearted theatre-goers helped raise £459 for the Evening Telegraph’s Lifesaver Appeal, which will raises much-needed funds for kidney patients.

Pictures by Paul Franks, Evening Telegraph

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