Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood is back on stage this Christmas, as Captain Hook at the Wycombe Swan. Jane McGowan hears more about life on stage, being TV's 'Mr Nasty', and a recent stint in Annie
Craig Revel Horwood plays Captain Hook at the Wycombe Swan from Dec 11 – Jan 3
Craig Revel Horwood is a busy man. Not only is he gracing our TV screens twice a week on Strictly Come Dancing, but from December 11, he’s back on stage playing Captain Hook in Wycombe Swan’s production of Peter Pan – a role that follows hot on the heels of his role in a revival of the musical Annie as, wait for it... Miss Hannigan.
“The producers phoned me and I thought they were talking about being the director or choreographer,” he explains. “And I thought: ‘Eugh, it’s children and it’s animals, I don’t know about that.’ But then they said they wanted me to be in it – as Miss Hannigan – and I was completely shocked.”
After a week of “pondering”, however, the shock turned to “delight” and he accepted.
Craig Revel Horwood in costume for his recent role as Miss Hannigan
“It has been 20 years since I was on the stage. Yes, I have done panto – but that’s just Craig Revel Horwood in a dress. This is a serious role and it was nice to get stuck into being an actor once again.”
Craig Revel Horwood was born in Ballarat, an old goldmining city in Victoria, Australia in 1965. The second of five children, he has often talked about his troubled childhood spent struggling with his weight, battling bullies and coping with his heavy-drinking father.
Amid all this, the young Revel Horwood “had a passion” for dance, but he was forced to keep his dreams under wraps.
“I went to dancing class, but you had to do it on the sly. You would have been teased to death. I would have had to leave school if people knew I was dancing,” he confesses.
Aged 16 he headed for the bright lights of Melbourne, where he studied musical theatre before moving to Sydney with his alter ego drag act Lavish. This opened the way for an eight-month spot at the Lido in Paris, which in turn led to an audition for Cats in the West End. His career in musical theatre was born. And although he never had any great desire to leave Australia, he realised that he would have to follow the work.
“Australia is difficult,” he explains. “Shows don’t last as long; there just aren’t as many people going to theatre. It’s hard.”
Revel Horwood worked solidly as a dancer for a decade, before being asked to produce Crazy For You in South Africa. And so a new string – choreography and directing – was added to his theatrical bow. There followed several West End shows and countless tours, extensive work in opera around the world and two nominations for an Olivier Award. So it was no surprise that in 2004, when the BBC needed a judge for a new dancing show, his name was thrown into the mix.
“I was asked to audition. They wanted someone who was theatrical, who was not from the ballroom or Latin world, as they already had Len. I went for a screen test and I got the job.”
Soon Revel Horwood was being dubbed the BBC’s ‘Mr Nasty’, delivering a wealth of barbed comments over the years. “I thought you looked like a slug wriggling in salt” (to presenter Rachel Riley) and “Lifeless, lacklustre and laboured – the only good thing about it was the end” (to singer Heather Small) are among the classics. And then there is his trademark ‘that was a dancefloor dis-ast-er daaarling,’ uttered to various cowering celebrities.
“Oh, but it’s all done with a certain love for them,” he insists. “The thing is, you’ve got to be honest and people sometimes take offence at that – well, the audience do,” he laughs. “But the dancers can learn from my comments.”
After 11 years he is used to people coming up to him in the street to give him a talking to.
“But they also say that they love what I do and beg me not to be nice.”
Strictly regularly pulls in audiences of more than 10 million and the glitz and high camp have really caught the public imagination. But are there tensions lurking beneath the glamour of all those shimmering sequins?
“No, not at all. It’s great fun. I absolutely love it. We all have such a great time. You get to see some really fantastic dancing, the people are really great and it’s just a great big, wonderful family to be involved with.”
The show, says Revel Horwood, will win the fight for Saturday night over ITV’s new-look The X Factor.
“It’s a strong format – it’s gone to over 53 countries worldwide,” he says. “It’s great Saturday night family entertainment, whether you’re three or 93.”
And although he won’t be drawn on who may take this year’s glitter ball, he does affirm that it’s a “fantastic group of celebrities, with some great dancers”. More ‘a-maz-ings’ than ‘dis-as-ters’ beckon.
But despite his love of Strictly, it is theatre that most inspires Revel Horwood, who now lives in Hampshire with partner Damon Scott, the entertainer who found fame in 2007 as a finalist on Britain’s Got Talent.
“TV is very fickle, darling,” he says. “You can’t rely on it. You know, people think I’m just some bloke that sits there holding paddles up from 1 to 10 on a Saturday night, but I did train many, many years for this. It’s my day job that counts.”
And for the next few weeks, the day job is playing the embittered orphanage manager Miss Hannigan.
“I’m not doing drag, I’m playing her as a woman,” he explains. “I feel so sorry for her – she is looking for love and can’t find it. She only feels solace in gin. It’s a sad state of affairs, really.”
But how have audiences reacted to seeing the usually tuxedoed, 6ft 2” dancer as a worn-out soak?
“They’ve been amazing,” he says in obvious pleasure. “There is a bit of shock in the opening scene, and a bit of a nervous laugh, but then they see I’m playing it straight and they start to invest in the character, and by the end they’ve forgotten about it.”
Revel Horwood clearly loves being a serious actor, but his next opportunity may have to wait. After panto in December – for which he will play Hook in Peter Pan at High Wycombe – he hits the road with the Strictly Tour, which he writes, directs and appears in too.
“After that I’m doing a show in Berlin… then four Strictly cruises… then I’m directing Sister Act for a national tour, and then it’s Strictly again… and then panto in Bromley and then…”
Did I mention that he was a busy man?
Craig Revel Horwood plays Captain Hook at the Wycombe Swan from Dec 11 – Jan 3
Check out our review of Annie at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking
