Blue Elephant Theatre, Camberwell

The curtains fall on another show and a seasoned pantomime dame is alone in his dressing room, unaware he is preparing for his own performance of a lifetime. Ronald Roy Humphrey has returned to the northern seaside town where he grew up for the Christmas season, and finds himself bitterly confronted with why he left all those years before.

As he starts to excavate his past, he steps back into history; bringing to life the ghosts who once paraded and performed along the piers and promenades, removing the layers one by one until he arrives at a tragic truth he had spent his whole life trying to forget.

A lost world of seaside entertainment, old time music hall and pantomime are brought to life in this one-man show where the past and present collide, magical realism meets bleak reality, and however many masks we wear, the truth will always be revealed.

The Dame is a father and daughter collaboration, a one man show starring Peter Duncan, written by his daughter Katie Duncan.

Originally inspired by their family history of seaside summer entertainment and pantomime, which Peter grew up surrounded by, it gradually evolved into a fictional, dark drama set amid the nostalgic backdrop of this golden, forgotten era.

Peter Duncan is an actor and presenter, probably best known for presenting Blue Peter in the 1980s. Ian Talbot directs, and is best known for his role as Artistic Director of The Open Air Theatre, Regents Park for 20 years.

'It's a heartbreaking story, beautifully written and powerfully played' Edinburgh Evening News