Whether you know him as a TV fashionista, cookbook author, or DJ, Gok Wan is a household name. This month, he’s leading the return of the much-loved Woking panto. Clara Knight reports...
What do you love about panto?
I’m completely addicted to it. Being brought up in restaurants, we were employed by our customers to entertain them, especially in the buildup to Christmas, much like a pantomime. The audience is incredible and you work in a really talented community of people, as part of a historical craft.
I learn a lot about myself, too. I can stand up in front of an audience of 20,000 people with no script and waffle on for two hours about fashion and body confidence, that doesn’t bother me.
But to get on stage and work with people like Aaron (James) and Harriet (Thorpe) who have been around for many years and really own their craft, it’s a real insight into delivery, timing, and comedy.
Do you change your performance to appeal to families?
I get to be the cheekiest version of myself. I mean, I’m quite cheeky anyway, but with pantomime, you can be completely playful.
The beauty of panto is that the audience changes every day – a Saturday afternoon audience is very different from a Sunday one.
This show has 48 performances, and every single one of them will be different because of the audience – so you have to be able to read a crowd.
What I love is the multiple meaning of everything in the panto.
For the kids, it’s the storytelling; for the people our age, it’s the double-entendre, or the risqué moment; for the slightly older audience, it has to be somewhere between the two. And that takes a massive amount of skill.
Much of what you do involves being confident and open, whether that’s teaching people to feel good in their own skin, or talking frankly about your own experiences. How does it feel knowing that much of your private life is public knowledge?
I’m good with it. I made that decision. A lot of journalists ask those questions, but it was only when I felt ready to reveal myself to the world, that I wrote my autobiography in 2019. But there are parts of my life that I won’t discuss. I won’t talk about relationships, I never have done.
I’ve been really lucky because my followers, the people that watch my programmes, have allowed me to diversify.
In every part of my life, I’m able to tell a different story. So when I’m presenting fashion, talking about body confidence, I talk about my own issues about self-esteem, and my anorexia, but when I’m cooking I get to talk about my family because that’s where I learned my skills.
Because of the different jobs, I can control how much I want to say. I’m quite a confident person, but when I’ve had enough, or I need some time for myself, I will say that.
The last time you spoke to us, you were touring with your live autobiographical show, Naked and Baring All. Looking back, how do you think people responded to the show?
Whenever you walk away from something which is very autobiographical, you think, ‘Oh my God, why did I put that in, I could have done that differently…?’ but it was the best show I could have made at that time to tell my story.
And the audiences seemed to love it, but I don’t think I’d ever do it again if I was being really honest.
I think it was a little bit trying on me emotionally. It’s quite difficult to reveal yourself every single night, it takes its toll on your self-confidence and self-esteem.
On those days where you don’t feel quite like you want to do it, but you’ve got to do it, it’s quite difficult.
So, I’m really lucky that because of the different jobs I’ve got, I can control how much I want to say. But also, I’m quite a confident person - when I’ve had enough, or I need some time for myself, I will say that.
In 2018 you co-founded the ‘Golden Chopsticks’ Award, what was its aim?
Myself and my two co-founders, Sarah and Lucy, recognised that there was nothing in the UK that celebrated south-east Asian food.
It’s one of the most popular cuisines in this country, so we wanted to create something which gave visibility to the community.
We need more Asian faces in the media and we need to talk about culture more, so it just felt like the right thing to do.
The first year, we weren’t sure what the response would be, but four years later, we’re going from strength to strength.
It’s really well respected, and I think we’ve achieved everything we wanted.
We now talk about Asian food in local restaurants and regional takeaways as well as the big fancy ones in London.
You’re hosting a new ITV show, Bling, which investigates the making, selling, and fixing of jewellery. What attracted you to the idea?
Initially, I was unsure whether I was the right presenter for it because I don’t have a huge history with jewellery.
I like jewellery and as a stylist, I’ve used it to complete looks, but it wasn’t until I’d read the treatment that I realised it’s all about human stories.
The contributors come on, they tell their story, whether that’s to do with immigration, or the loss of a family member, or a celebration.
Photo: © Ian Olsson | Snow White 2021/22 | New Victoria Theatre
You’ve done a little bit of everything, from cookbooks to DJ nights, to creating your own fashion brands. If you could dip your toe into a new hobby, what would it be and why?
You know what, I’m so ambitious about trying lots of different things. I set myself these huge goals every year to learn new things or a new skill set.
But I think probably, it wouldn’t be a new area, it would be to know more about an area I’m already in, which would be music.
So, music production, learning about the business, how to set up a label, that sort of thing. I’m not very good at knowing a tiny bit about something and then moving on, I have to learn everything!
If you could speak to your teenage self now, what advice would you give them?
I’d stay stop f*cking worrying. Stop. F*cking. Worrying! Because I worried and I worried until it almost made me sick. Everything is going to be alright.
You only ever worry about stuff that’s happening in the future, but the future will happen whether you choose to worry about it or not.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opens at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, from Dec 4 until Jan 2. Tickets are available to book online at atgtickets.com from £13.
