Pantomime

Red Riding Hood returns

BUCKHORN Amateur Theatrical Society celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and the pantomime at Buckhorn Weston village hall sees a return to the story where it all started, back in 1994 – Red Riding Hood – on 16th and 17th February. The village may have seen many changes over the ensuing three decades – the…

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Panto time at the Exchange

ALADDIN, one of the oldest of the traditional English pantomimes, is the 2024 choice for SNADS, at The Exchange, Sturminster Newton, from Thursday 15th to Saturday 17th February, with matinees on Thursday and Saturday. The company has chosen the script by Ben Crocker, one of the country’s most popular and performed panto writers, well-known for…

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It’s 40 years … oh no it isn’t!

THIS year’s Honiton pantomime at the Beehive Centre from 13th to 17th February, is the 40th anniversary production by the town’s community theatre, which began as Honiton Pantomime Society. Over the years the company has grown from being just about pantomime and now produces three performances a year. This new locally-based version of the story…

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You shall go to the Bridport ball!

CINDERELLA has a special New Year party at the palace – join her and Bridport Pantomime Players at the Electric Palace from Wednesday 31st January to Saturday 3rd February, at 7.30pm with a Saturday matinee at 1.30. The Players promise an unforgettable performance filled with laughter, music, and glittering fun, directed by Greg Horton, bringing…

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A magical trip to Neverland

SHAFTESBURY Arts Centre’s music and drama group wants to whisk you away from a cold and depressing January to the excitement and colour of Neverland, with this year’s winter show, Peter Pan, The Pants, at the theatre in Bell Street from Thursday 25th January to Saturday 3rd February. All the big theatre pantomimes have packed…

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Sleeping Beauty, Bath Theatre Royal

THE essential requirement of pantomime is that it entertains and enchants, and the Christmas show at Bath’s Theatre Royal always does that, aided and abetted by the sheer magic of the venue, as the lights twinkle around the beautiful auditorium and the excitement mounts, all ready for the arrival of the heroes and heroines, goodies…

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Mayflower’s got Diversity

BRITAIN’s Got Talent stars Ashley Banjo and his street dance crew Diversity star at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre in the fairest pantomime of them all, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, from 9th to 31st December. Dancer and choreographer Ashley Banjo will play Prince Ashley, with the Diversity dancers as the Royal Guards. And there’s pantomime…

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Three Little Pigs at Poole

BRIDPORT-based Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company takes a new look at a favourite children’s story with a collaborative production of The Three Little Pigs at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre from 5th to 24th December. The show, created by company founder-director Niki McCretton (pictured), has been developed in collaboration with nine young peopl. Working with schools…

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Dick Whittington, Salisbury Playhouse

ONE of the advantages of reviewing a pantomime at a schools matinee, rather than the official press night, is that you really get a feel for how children enjoy the show. For many youngsters it will be their first experience of live theatre – and if it’s a good one, they may come back, not…

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A feisty heroine and a manic rat – expect the unexpected in Salisbury’s Dick Whittington

OLIVIA Hewitt-Jones was born to play pantomime. Her father Brian was a successful pantomime producer and her mother, actress Amanda Bairstow, starred in them. Now Olivia makes her professional debut at Salisbury Playhouse as the heroine Alice Fitzwarren in this year’s panto, Dick Whittington, running from 25th November to 7th January. “I literally grew up…

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