Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has revealed that he no longer uses make-up artists on the BBC show, having mastered the skill during his theatre career. The 61-year-old continues to apply his own make-up both when performing on stage and on Strictly.
He said: "I have resorted on Strictly to doing my own (make up). I just prefer it, I don't like all the fuss, no bother, I don't like all the knocks on the door. I sit quietly and read a book and take my mind off everything so I can go out and judge seriously in that way."
Parallels with pantomime
Craig was addressing audiences at the Cheltenham Literature Festival while publicising his latest book, The Book of Panto, published by Faber and Faber. He maintained that Strictly Come Dancing shared numerous parallels with festive theatrical productions, reports the Mirror.
He remarked: "Strictly I suppose is panto-esque. We have cheering and people shouting and that is good. What is great is it has a sense of humour and it is on TV but it includes people at home from 3 to 93 and there are not many live shows that do that."
"And certainly there are not many things on TV that creates the same community values and the wokeness is great because it brings in everyone and I think that is great. And the more they keep changing up panto and making it current the better it is."
From snob to advocate
Craig also admitted he was once "naive" and a "bit of a snob" about pantomime before being won over after watching productions in the UK and eventually treading the boards himself. He now firmly believes pantomime plays a vital role in the theatrical landscape, both for the significant financial boost it provides and its ability to draw children away from their screens for a few hours during the festive season.
He explained: "I think it is great and I always had a thought that panto does a lot of good for all of theatre. I think if children weren't exposed to theatre from a young age they would probably never go. They would rather be sitting at home on an iPad or an iPhone playing a game."
Everyone can dance
Craig will return to our screens this weekend on Strictly and was adamant that anybody has the potential to become a capable dancer. He said: "Everyone can dance, I believe that. It doesn't matter if you have a disability, it doesn't matter who you are in society. Dance has been around for millions of years, birds do it to mate, caveman dancing around fire for fertility. People communicating with their bodies before they could talk. Dance has been around forever."
"As much as people say they have two left feet they are scared of making a fool of themselves, you should dance like no one's watching, and people do at weddings." Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
