Peter Pan – The Panto: Johnny Ward has a soft spot for the magic of panto

A performance of ‘Peter Pan – The Panto’ is being brought to life on the silver screen, featuring Walkinstown actor Johnny Ward as Captain Hook.

Johnny, 34, has an enviable list of credits from his performances on ‘Fair City’, ‘Love/Hate’ and ‘Copper Face Jacks: The Musical’, but he has a soft spot for the magic of pantos and the audience engagement it provides.

‘Peter Pan – The Panto’ was recorded last year and was shown over the Christmas season in the grounds of Malahide Castle as a drive-in event, and it’s recently been added to the listings for Omniplex cinemas around the country.

Johnny, a past pupil of Templeogue College, said he’s excited for the panto to reach a wider audience and provide some much-needed relief in these unprecedented times.

He took some time out to tell his local paper about what the past few months have been like for him as an actor, his decision to turn his hand to writing and performing his own original music, and the reaction he hopes cinema-goers will have when they see ‘Peter Pan – The Panto’.

What have the past few months been like for you?

The past few months have actually been great for me, I think I got used to the lockdown.

Before the first lockdown, I was very lucky because I was busy with the Copper Faces Jacks musical and pantos, but then it all just stopped.

At the beginning of the first lockdown, there was a fear everyone had, but I got used to it.

I downloaded a fitness programme and set up a home gym, so I could wake up in the morning and have some sense of purpose.

What has been the biggest learning curve for you, as an actor, during the pandemic?

Just that you can never get too comfortable. After I did things like ‘Fair City’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars’, more doors started to open for me, but then they started to close at the first lockdown.

You need to be careful about the people you meet on the way up, because you’ll meet them again on the way down. I remember, years ago, I went into a bank to apply for a mortgage.

They looked at my income and said it was great, but they asked, ‘Why did you get fired from this job?’

I had to explain that I didn’t get fired, the contract I was on had ended. So there’s a lot of inconsistency when it comes to working anyway.

You recently released a video for your own original song, ‘Ideal World’. When did you realise you had a talent for songwriting?

I’ve always written songs, and I was always in bands playing bass.

A guy I worked with on a music video around five years ago, called Stephen Leeson, got in touch with me and said he was doing some videos and asked if I wanted to do a couple of songs.

I declined at the start, but then I said I would do it – I thought that if I don’t do it now, then I’ll never do it.

He loved ‘Ideal World’ so we did a video for it. It’s fuelled with loads of emotion and heartbreak.

It’s a combination of my dad passing away, my family, and various break-ups, crammed into one song.

Vulnerability is a key aspect of acting and performing music, which medium do you find you have to dig deeper for?

It depends on the project. Sometimes you get a character, like Gino Wildes in Coppers the musical, where it ticks every box.

But when you’re dealing with singing something you’ve written yourself, it’s not a character – it’s real and it’s raw.

There’s no director there, so you’ve to become your own director.

What was it like for you to play Captain Hook in ‘Peter Pan – The Panto’?

I loved it. Myself and my dad would watch the film ‘Hook’ when I was growing up, and I always wanted to play that character.

In 2014 I played Peter Pan in a Peter Pan panto, but I always secretly wanted to play Captain Hook.

It was all a bit up in the air when we were doing it, but when they put it on in Malahide Castle it was great to see people continuing that tradition of going out to see a panto.

How did you feel when you found out the panto was going to be screened in Omniplex cinemas?

I was delighted. I think ‘Peter Rabbit’ is the only children’s film that’s out in cinemas at the minute, so this gives families a great opportunity to get out of the house.

I hope the panto gets the same response as it did at Christmas – and even though it’s a panto it’s not Christmassy and doesn’t mention Christmas – I want the audience to be laughing and shouting up from the crowd.

Tickets for showings of ‘Peter Pan – The Panto’ can be purchased at Omniplex.

For further information on Johnny’s work and his video for ‘Ideal World’, follow @JohnnyWard87 on Instagram.