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.
