VIEW PROFILE: Dave Swaffield

There is nothing like a dame

DAVE Swaffield has been involved with local theatre since he was a child.

Playing in drama, farce, musical theatre and restoration comedy, Dave has been a consistent name in theatre programmes across the county. However it was in his roles as the pantomime dame in which Dave really excelled regularly stealing the show.

In recent years Dave became a founder member of Bridport Musical Theatre Company and has found success as a director. His first two shows “The Boyfriend” and “Anything Goes” were a sell out success and received universally positive reviews.

The company last week performed their showcase production “Showstoppers” at the Bridport Arts Centre which again was a sell out.

This summer Dave will once again fill the director’s chair as he takes on the challenge of producing “42nd Street”.

SUSPENDED at the top of the curtain at Bridport’s Palace Theatre in a dress and heavy make up Dave Swaffield found himself in a familiar role as the pantomime dame.

A quick slip of the rope and Dave had fallen 20 feet to the stage, met with rapturous applause and laughter from the audience.

A little bruised Dave jumped to his feet, dusted himself down and completed the performance.

“Normally you’d think about it but as the old saying goes ‘the show must go on’,” he recalled.

“I had a few bruises and I was a bit sore but I didn’t break anything, people probably thought it was part of the act but I certainly knew it wasn’t.”

Inspired by a performance at Weymouth’s Ritz Theatre, aged nine, Dave began to learn his craft and at 12-years-old he performed his first tap solo to the tune of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”.

Dave is the first to admit that his singing voice and physical stature held him back when it came to landing a lead role, but he was happy to entertain the audiences with the well crafted cameo role.

What Dave lacked in his singing voice he more than made up for with his comedic talent and despite not having the stature of a leading man, he had no worries about commanding the stage.

Dave found his calling in pantomime and for many he will be remembered as the perfect dame.

“I did a lot of pantomime because I think that is the finest training ground that anybody can have,” he said.

“If you look at a lot of your musical stars they all started in pantomime because you learn craft, techniques and how to characterize. I think it’s a good foundation to go on to musical theatre.

“People think playing the dame is easy but it’s not just a case of putting women’s clothing on, there is a bit more to that. You are not doing a drag act, you have got to have good contact with the audience and again it’s good training because you learn to time your audience and listen for reaction.

“Then when you’re playing a part, you know when to go in and when to pull back a bit.”

Despite wanting to tread the boards from a young age Dave never dreamt of fame and was more than happy to just be on the stage where he got the thrill he needed as an exhibitionist.

“At school I was always the comedian and I remember my headmaster saying when I left school, ‘Swaffield you’re going to get nowhere’ and maybe he was right, I don’t know,” he joked.

“I never took the step to try and make it professionally, I was quite happy to do it at the level I was at. I think it was the adrenalin rush. There is not much in the world today to give you an adrenalin rush but theatre, especially if you are playing a main part, definitely does and I can’t compare it to anything.”

Looking back at his youth Dave wonders whether he did have what it took to make the move professionally but it is never with regret.

“I didn’t ever want to become famous. My dream was to do what I have done basically and end up directing, although I haven’t given up entirely thinking about taking roles.

“I’m enjoying directing and that was one of my aims. I have directed, although I say it myself, two very successful shows with the help of a very talented team and I’m doing what I dreamt of really.”

After attending a summer school on directing musicals at Loughborough University Dave went on to produce his first show in 2008.

“The Boyfriend” was a sell-out production, which received rave reviews from both the local media and the National Operatic and Dramatic Association. A feat he repeated with “Anything Goes” in 2009.

Although relatively new to the world of directing Dave thinks he has identified some keys to his success.

“I think a director has to be a director and not a dictator,” he explained.

“I feel that he has got to let the actors and actresses he is working with see how they interpret the part and then suggest, and I emphasise suggest, putting little things in to shape them round to how you see it.

“I think you can go in heavy but many times you find that actors have seen it differently to you so you have always got to be on the same wavelength as your actors and not above them as a dictator.

“I enjoy working with young people and I think they bring a big energy to a show and it’s something you can’t explain because that energy gets across to the audience. In our last show “Anything Goes” we got a standing ovation on the final night and that is quite something in Bridport.”

As a debut director with a reputation as a performer Dave had concerns when taking on the challenge of directing but he was confident in the people around him.

He said: “I knew there was something there that was special because I had an excellent team around me with Becky Mather as the choreographer, Murray Davis as the musical director, Brenda and Mel on the costumes. I knew the team was good and the cast was excellent so there were was good ingredients for a successful show.”

Dave had complete confidence in his production team and cast, and being out of the stage spotlight at least should mean little nerves for such a seasoned stage performer, but Dave insists that wasn’t the case.

“I get double, treble, quadruple nervous before a show as a director because I’m nervous for all of them, not just myself,” he said.

“It is a big responsibility because you are putting all these people up on stage and if you haven’t got it right then you are not being fair to the performers so you have got to give it your best.

“It was so nice to see them being applauded like they were because they were great, they were all great.

“I’m quite an emotional person really and I shed a tear when I saw them get that standing ovation.”

With two successful shows under his belt and a third in the pipeline Dave’s directing career is going strong. Couple that with the fact that he has not been on stage himself for five years and you have to wonder if Dave’s days as a performer are over.

He insists they aren’t and is quite clear that there is one part that he will not be watching from the director’s chair.

“There is one role that I desire and I am a great fan of his and that is Joel Grey and I would dearly love to play MC in cabaret” he revealed.

“I wouldn’t be able to direct it of course but that is an ambition I’ve got left.”

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