What Does a Panto Company Do Throughout the Year - August

Continuing our blog of what a pantomime company does ‘for the rest of the year’ here is a brief overview of what the Imagine team have been up to during August.

August began with the announcement that Imagine Theatre is now part of the Trafalgar Entertainment Group which will help unlock further growth opportunities for Imagine Theatre and allow us to build on our legacy of family entertainment that stretches back over 25 years.

For much of the team August is dominated by photoshoots. The final cast members needed for print and social media assets were invited to the Spa Centre in Leamington during late August where the team held four days of photoshoots with over 40 cast members travelling from all across the UK. It was a great week, and the team were delighted to see many familiar faces as well as meeting some of the cast new to Imagine this year.

Many of the team were involved the photoshoot preparations with the wardrobe team having to prep and create more than 40 costumes with the props team ensuring all props are in tip-top condition ahead of being photographed.

It has been a busy year for photoshoots with:

11 Individual days

18 pantos captured

26 Imagine staff and our support team

90 cast members attended

237 bottles of water drunk

335 sandwiches eaten

874 emails sent

4,773 photographs taken

22,050 miles travelled

The photoshoot week also provided the chance for the whole of the Imagine Team to get together for their seasonal meal. With some members of the team working remotely it is rare that the whole team find themselves in one place at the same time.

August also saw a return to Junior Ensemble auditions with the auditions for Jack and the Beanstalk in Kilmarnock and Sleeping Beauty in Inverness taking place. Both venues saw a high turnout of youngsters all keen to be part of their local panto this Christmas.

For the ops team they have been continuing painting sets and creating new sets pieces, such a giant books for Jack and the Beanstalk, and Dave made a trip up to Glasgow to meet with the team there and to examine sets and props for the Pavilion.

If you are interested in a further look behind the scenes check out the fortnightly Just Imagine Podcast which as well as interviews with the members of the Imagine HQ team includes guest interviews from the wide range of people we work with each year.

What Does a Panto Company Do Throughout the Year - April

Continuing our blog of what a pantomime company does ‘for the rest of the year’ here is a brief overview of what the Imagine team have been up to during April.

This month saw the UK Pantomime Association Awards at which Imagine won for Best Production (over 900 seats) for Swansea’s Beauty and the Beast, with the production also picking up the award for Best Set Design. In addition Vernon Kay won the award for Best Newcomer to Pantomime for his portrayal of Dandini in Wycombe Swan’s Cinderella. Many of the Imagine team, along with some of those who worked with us on the 2022 season, were in attendance on the night to celebrate the panto genre at the fabulous ceremony held at the Trafalgar Theatre in London’s West End. It was great to catch up with so many friends and colleagues and the wider panto community and we would like to congratulate all the nominees and winners and thank the UKPA for a fabulous evening.

With Imagine’s 18th birthday coming up in May the marketing team are planning a week-long celebration on social media of the last 18 years. There will be blogs, podcasts and lots of fabulous photos from throughout the company’s history so make sure you keep an eye on our social channels during the second week of May and also please take a look at our post on how you can get involved.

The ops team have spent a few days away from HQ at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton hanging and photographing almost 80 of our new cloths from the last two years.

The Associate Producers for each of our shows are currently in the process of getting the first round of production meetings of the season booked in. These incorporate key members of the creative teams for each show and in house venue staff. With so many pantomimes this year diaries are filling up fast!

In the wardrobe department Esther has been busy working her magic creating and maintaining some beautiful wigs. The other members of the wardrobe team have been embellishing and revamping some of our ensemble costumes and the team were very excited by a large fabric delivery full of gorgeous brightly coloured fabrics which will be used to create costumes for the season ahead.

Sarah was invited to Staffordshire University to talk to the students on their MA in Contemporary Pantomime Practice course. She gave a business focused presentation from the producer point of view to guide them through key elements such as the importance of scheduling, setting ticket pricing, budgeting and cashflow amongst other things, and explaining to them why, for a producer, panto is a year-round job.

Martin Ballard, the host of our podcast, also dropped by to interview Beth who oversees the children’s licensing for a forthcoming episode of the Just Imagine podcast as well as interviewing Steve and Sarah for some other forthcoming episodes, including one to mark our 18th birthday celebrations.

If you are interested in a further look behind the scenes check out the fortnightly Just Imagine Podcast which as well as interviews with the members of the Imagine HQ team includes guest interviews from the wide range of people we work with each year.

What Does a Panto Company Do Throughout the Year - February

Continuing our blog of what a pantomime company does ‘for the rest of the year’ here is a brief overview of what the Imagine team have been up to during February.

Although many of the team take the opportunity to have a well-earned break in February, things have still been exceptionally busy at Imagine HQ.

Many of the companies that we hire sets, props and costumes to produce their pantomime during January and February and so the last few weeks have seen the majority of the set and costume hires for the 2022-23 season come to an end. The warehouse, wardrobe and props floor are once again full.

This year our warehouse is home to 5 new sets. The stores team have been logging all the new sets onto the system. They have to measure and photograph each piece of every single set.  Each individual piece of set has its own label with a barcode which is linked to a central system along with the photo and measurements. This allows the team to quickly pull up images and information for each piece of set we own. This system is also used to log the sets in and out of our warehouse each season.

The wardrobe team are cleaning all the costumes from the season and doing any necessary maintenance before they get put away. In addition Saeni and Adam have been venturing off around the country procuring some new costumes to add to the collection.

The debriefs with the venue management and the marketing teams are now almost at an end and budgets are getting closer to being finalised.

The casting process has begun with a few familiar faces beginning to be confirmed for this season with announcements and brochure launches imminent for a few of our venues.

In addition, Sarah, Steve and Laura attended the first ever pantomime symposium in London run by the UK Pantomime Association and the team behind the MA in contemporary pantomime at Staffordshire University, along with many of the country’s other top pantomime producers, and other representatives of the UK pantomime industry. It was a fabulous day of thought provoking panels, honest and open discussion about the future of pantomime and a chance to meet up with friends and colleagues from the industry.

The team are delighted that the Just Imagine podcast has now received 6,000 downloads and the schedule for the podcast for the rest of 2023 is already in place.

And finally, the Imagine Team did not forget to embrace the tradition of Shrove Tuesday with Amy making delicious pancakes for the whole team on Tuesday 21 February.

If you are interested in a further look behind the scenes check out the fortnightly Just Imagine Podcast which as well as interviews with the members of the Imagine HQ team includes guest interviews from the wide range of people we work with each year.