Kev Johns will be part of Swansea Grand’s pantomime this Christmas after all — returning as a digital “Dame in the Mirror” as the theatre unveiled a star-studded cast for Snow White.
The much-loved entertainer suffered a stroke in February, and made an emotional first public appearance in May — but was determined not to let his panto fans down.
He said: “I am delighted to have a very different role in this year’s panto playing the Dame in the Mirror. Panto is so special to me, so although I can’t be there giving my usual performance this is the next best thing, and I am thrilled to still be involved.
“The people of Swansea still get to see me in a dress this year! Snow White is one of my favourite stories and this will be another fantastic production. There’ll be a few surprises, with a great script and lots of boos and cheers.”
The role caps three decades of panto sparkle at the Grand for Kev — and there’s a neat symmetry to it, as he starred in the theatre’s last Snow White in 2021.
(Image: Swansea City FC / Youtube)
Kev has been doing panto since 1992, and told Swansea Bay News last Christmas that stepping out at the Grand still felt “like a dream come true” — because it was the theatre he grew up watching panto in.
That day-in-the-life interview revealed the staples of the dame’s trade: a make-up kit “bigger than my wife and daughters put together”, lightning quick-changes in the wings — and a firm rule that “you can’t be a Welsh dame unless you enjoy cockles and lava bread”.
He also shared the maxim that has carried him through more than three decades on stage: “It might be your last show of the season, but for the audience, it’s their first.”
He’ll share the bill with a cast led by BBC presenter Owain Wyn Evans, CBeebies favourite Rebecca Keatley, singer and TV personality Suzanne Shaw, Swansea-born actor Christian Patterson and comic Steve Walls.
Evans — the Ammanford-raised presenter who wakes the nation with his Early Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, appears daily on Homes Under the Hammer and fronts Wales Home of the Year — takes on the role of the Spirit of the Forest in his first panto at the Grand.
He said: “Drumroll please! I can’t wait to be spending Christmas in Swansea for Snow White! The Swansea Grand has always had a place in my heart, and to be taking to the stage there for Panto this year is going to be very special.”
The drumroll is no idle boast — Evans famously went viral drumming along to the BBC News theme from his attic in 2020, then raised more than £3.8m for Children in Need with a record-breaking 24-hour drumathon the following year.
He is also a Celebrity Mastermind champion — specialist subject: the musical works of Britney Spears.
The homecoming caps an eventful stretch for the presenter, who was back on air within weeks of emergency surgery last autumn — and who went public in March with a hearing scare, warning he had been “missing conversations”.
Rebecca Keatley — who grew up in Port Talbot, and is one of the longest-serving presenters in the CBeebies House with twelve CBeebies pantomimes to her name — plays the title role.
“I am thrilled to be heading to Wales this Christmas and returning to the stage at The Swansea Grand Theatre as Snow White,” she said. “I am super excited to be working with such an incredible cast and crew.”
Her voice will be familiar to CBeebies households too — she narrates the Bafta-winning shows Time for School and My Family, and has presented the CBeebies Proms from the Royal Albert
