“HAVE your brought your own boobs, or do you need to borrow some?”

It’s not a question you hear often, even less the answer: “I’ll borrow yours, please.” But in the context of a dress fitting for a pantomime, it makes perfect sense.

Actor Edward Rowe – aka Kernow King – will tackle his first damehood when he embodies the role of Maid Trott in the Hall For Cornwall production of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Rehearsals began on Monday, but before they did, Edward headed over to Falmouth University’s Fashion & Textiles Institute on the Tremough campus where students and lecturers had tape measures and safety pins at the ready for a “toile”, or prototype made from an inexpensive fabric to test the design and fit.

“It’s like getting ready for a coronation,” mutters photographer Hugh, squeezing past the many people who are primping, nipping and tucking.

The frock in question is very special indeed. While most of Edward’s costumes have been hired in from a specialist supplier, this one was the subject of a competition amongst Falmouth’s second-year students from the Film and TV Costume course.

It gave them a rare opportunity to respond to a live brief: to come up with the most splendid garment for a Cornish dame, to be worn in the grand finale scene.

Winner Tabby Winchester and runner-up Florence Kenny researched Cornish myth, legend and tradition to come up with an outfit that ticks just about every box going. Secrecy limits how much I’m able to reveal at this stage, but as you can see from the photographs, Tabby’s voluminous gown incorporates tartan (all materials were chosen from the reels at Truro Fabrics), while a St Piran flag features heavily courtesy of Florence, who drew on experience working backstage on last year’s Hall For Cornwall pantomime.

The questions come thick and fast as the team figures out how the frock will work on stage. Can Edward move in it? He’s instructed to lift his arms up and down. What length skirt, for the right sort of bounce?

How easy will it be to get on and off in a quick change? “It has to be able to withstand being ripped off and dropped where they stand,” says course leader Julie Ripley, adding: “I tell students to design with a toddler or a teenager in mind.”

As the course is geared more towards film and TV, the students were taken to the Hall For Cornwall to get a feel for the size of the venue and how, in the absence of close-up shots, even the finer details would need to be big enough to be seen from the back of the upper balcony.

The script, by pantomime veteran Steve Marmion, sees Jack, his dear old mother and their beloved cow Jagga chuck caution and magic beans to the wind in a last-ditch attempt to save their village from the wicked giant.  

Specialist pantomime director Joyce Branagh – sister of Kenneth, no less - has been brought in from Yorkshire to hold the reins. She’s been directing Christmas shows since 2005 and has even written a book about it; this is her first in Cornwall, although she has performed on stage at The Minack in the pouring rain (a hazard of the venue).

“I like the fact that for many people, even grown-ups, this is their first experience of the theatre,” she says. “And you can bring everyone, from toddlers to Granny. It’s silly, with slapstick comedy, great songs and fantastic dance. If you get it right, everyone should have a good time.”

And let’s not forget the audience participation – “a crucial part” of panto like no other show. “The dame will pick on someone, everyone has to boo the baddie and shout ‘BEHIND YOU!’ to signal impending doom. It’s crazy, feel-good fun,” Joyce enthuses.

She promises an “amazing beanstalk” and “the cutest cow ever”: Jagga (does she move like her namesake?) has already been spotted trotting around the runways of pantomime sponsor Cornwall Newquay Airport.

Should you think that panto begins in November, Joyce points out that no sooner has one finished, the next one is on the drawing board. “It’s a big show for a theatre, with a big team. Making sure every element comes to pass, from the script to the set, takes a lot of planning.”

Edward has played the hapless son, and the baddie, and now the Dame – or, as he puts it, “a six-foot Cornishman in a pretty dress”.

“I was keen,” he admits. “I’ve played iconic characters including Long John Silver and Captain Hook, and the dame looks like good fun.

“The fitting was quite intense, but I already love the costume – it’s going to look ace when it’s finished, and will add to the character.”

Jack and the Beanstalk runs from December 6 to 21. For more information, visit www.hallforcornwall.co.uk