Tracking down ‘right kind of Cinderella’

Naomi Slater is determined to be the kind of Cinderella in Worthing this Christmas that everyone can relate to (Connaught Theatre, December 2-31).

“I want people to relate to the fact that she comes from a not-so-well-off background, that she is bossed around by her sisters and that she has these dreams of meeting her Prince - and fortunately the dreams come true!

“She’s quite a goody character, but she is quite positive despite how she is treated by her sisters and by other people. I hope to bring out that positive side to her. I hope to make it so that the audience feels that she deserves to meet her Prince.”

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This is Naomi’s third successive Cinderella for the same producers, and she was Cinderella the year before that as well: “But it is always different scripts, different casts. It doesn’t mean that it is the same as the year before. It gets updated. The music gets changed for what has been current in that year.”

Naomi has also played Snow White in the past; she’s also been in Aladdin and Mother Goose - all a happy succession since starting out with her first professional pantomime at the age of ten at the then Horsham Arts Centre (now The Capitol). Since then she’s graduated from babe dancer to senior dancer through the star of the show.

This year is a particularly convenient one. Living in Shoreham, she’ll be having Christmas at home.

“I live in Shoreham-by-Sea. I was born there. I have always lived there. I went to drama college in London, but actually I commuted from Shoreham because it is not really that far from London. And now this is my first panto for quite a few years where I won’t have to live away at Christmas.”

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Naomi’s UK tours include Wheels On The Bus (the children’s television show), playing Little Bo-Peep and Trombone, and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat playing Alternate Narrator, Handmaiden and Apache Dancer for two years.

Naomi has also enjoyed performing abroad, spending a summer in Malta for Thomson Gold Hotels in their production shows, and singing and dancing aboard the Thomson Emerald. She also appeared as a principal singer on the Queen Victoria’s maiden world voyage.

Box office: 01903 206206 or online www.worthingtheatres.co.uk.