“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Christmas off?” – be careful what you wish for!

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Christmas off?”

That’s the dream of everyone who has to regularly work over Christmas, those who misses the ‘traditional’ elements of the season. We’ve not been to a Christmas concert in years and years. For panto producers like us, Christmas is an exhausting, never ending stream of work. It’s endless miles of travel. Its thousands of show reports to read. It’s constant phone calls from our teams with things to sort out. By the end of January, we’re literally on our knees and ready to keel over as the cycle for the following year’s pantomime productions starts all over again, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

But now we wish we could wake from that dream, because it has become the reality. While we had the dream, we never actually wanted it to happen. Panto is our life. We eat, sleep, breathe and live it. And this year it’s not happening and we’re having Christmas off.

Those endless miles of travel resulted in watching something magical on stage, the pride of watching what our team has achieved, drinks and chats with cast and crew who rapidly become friends and the buzz of hearing an audience screaming with laughter and participating for what is quite often their one and only theatre experience of the year.

Imagine Theatre has now postponed all of its 2020 pantomime productions and we are looking at an unusually quiet Autumn and Christmas period, albeit with some projects in the pipeline. Whilst some theatre has been able to reopen under stage 4 of the government’s reopening roadmap, this stage involves social distancing in auditoriums. To be financially viable, panto needs stage 5 (no social distancing), and we know that won’t be considered until later this year. That’s just too late and risky for panto as we know it to be produced this year. Our last blog (linked here) explained the challenges surrounding producing pantomime and venue reopening. For many venues, it’s just not financially viable for them to reopen until the spring of 2021. Indeed, just this week, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Rebecca Kane Burton brilliantly explained the problems facing the theatre industry to the parliament DCMS select committee. As Andrew said, we desperately need a date for the reopening theatres; we are at the point of no return.

The very latest deadline to make the 2020 panto season happen was set as 3rd August. Even then, it would have been an enormous struggle to have fitted a years work into just 4 months to make it happen. Once that date passed, panto season as we know it was gone. There are some venues out there planning socially distanced productions, but these will not be at the same scale as we are used to – they can’t be because of the rules and regulations we are now required to follow.

We always get asked the same question “Ah, you’re a panto producer, what do you do the rest of the year?” – well, the answer is simply that we do panto. All year, every year. It’s a year round job.

We describe the preparation for pantomime season as like being on a train. The train spends quite a bit of time in the station, being prepared and loaded for its journey ahead. (February to mid August – casting, pre-production planning, marketing, scenic and costume preparation etc). Once the train is ready to leave the station (things usually really ramp up in mid August), it gently gathers speed until it’s at full pelt (usually in the middle of September) and the only option you have is to work at full speed to keep up with it.  Autumn and Winter usually pass in a total blur for us at head office. It only starts to slow from its journey in mid January, and comes to a full stop by the end of the month, ready to start the cycle all over again.

As we write, the train should have left the station and be running almost at full pelt. This year it hasn’t even been loaded to set off on its journey. We stopped preparing it in early Spring when it became apparent that we might lose the 2020 panto season, and we would need to batten down the hatches to survive.

Its mind-boggling that we are in this situation. From having our most successful season ever in 2019, to staring into the abyss of a total loss of the 2020 pantomime season and associated financial loss for the year, we can’t quite comprehend what is happening. Our amazing head office team are still on furlough and haven’t seen their desks in months; our usually busy casting department hasn’t opened a CV this year, not one pre-production planning meeting has taken place and our offices and stores are quiet.

It’s not just our head office team that is affected either. Theatre is a finely tuned ecosystem of companies and individuals all reliant on each other. Our suppliers haven’t been awarded contracts this year; our transport companies won’t be moving scenery and costumes; our casts, crews, creatives, musicians etc don’t have work from us; our theatres aren’t selling tickets and won’t see their ticket, booking fee and secondary spend incomes; restaurants, taxi companies, hotels and shops won’t see the throughput of audience members. The list goes on. It’s not just about a production company losing some work – it’s about the millions of people that our panto season impacts. And we are just one cog in the world of the UK pantomime industry, and an even smaller cog in the UK theatre scene as a whole.

We are regularly asked “Surely it’s not as bad in the theatre industry as people are making out?” and the only answer we can give is “yes it really is”.

That is inevitably followed by “But the government has given a big rescue package, so how come?”

There has indeed been a £1.57bn rescue package announced but it’s for ALL Arts, not just theatre. It covers Museums, Galleries, Libraries, Music venues, Theatres and all Arts and Cultural related businesses, to enable their survival until 31st March 2021. Its breakdown is:-

• £1.15bn in grants (£880m) and loans (£270m)

• £100m in support for the English Heritage Trust & national cultural organisations in England

• £120m in capital investment for infrastructure projects paused by Corona

• £188m for the devolved administrations (£33m NI, £97m Scotland, £59m Wales)

This money was announced at the start of July, with applications submitted in August . It won’t be awarded until October for distribution later that month or even into November.

In England, of the £270m available in loans, the minimum amount that can be applied for is £3m. This means the maximum number of organisations that can benefit from the loan scheme is 90. Everyone else in England (the tens of thousands of theatres, venues, producers, agents, suppliers etc) will all be applying for the remaining £880m in grants. Whilst this is still a significant amount of support, it might not be enough to go around, so there is a real danger that not all companies and venues will survive.

Oliver Dowden stated that it’s ‘enough to save the Crown Jewels’. That’s absolutely fantastic news because they are so important to our countries cultural provision – but in the theatre world, the crown jewels need a head to sit on (the venues) and a backbone to support them (producers like us, actors, creatives, crew, freelancers, colleges, agents, suppliers etc who are absolutely critical to the supply chain and finely tuned theatre ecosystem). Without a strong head and backbone in place, the crown jewels may topple as their supports begin to collapse around them. Eventually the Crown Jewels will fall; you can’t keep them going if there is nothing for them to sit atop of.

Our sector, in the vast majority of cases, has seen absolutely zero income since March (and indeed many theatres have had to refund tens of thousands of pounds worth of ticket money), so the industry is living off its financial reserves to keep businesses afloat and viable. Like many businesses in our sector, our staff are on furlough, but the overheads of premises rent, lighting, electricity, phones, broadband etc don’t just go away. They still have to be paid each month. And now we are having to start contributing towards furlough salaries, with no income stream to help out.

A business can only last as long as it has reserves and the longer this goes on, the less viable many businesses within our sector will become. Theatre usually relies on those reserves to operate and stay open. As producers, quite often we get paid for a show AFTER it has taken place. In these cases, we have to pay for pretty much everything up front, and a production or tour may be 18 months in the planning, preparation and roll out before the box office settlements come back in. So no reserves means cash flowing or paying for these projects could be a challenge. That’s why our industry is lasting as long as it is – because many have reserves. But what when those reserves are gone? How do we collectively get restarted?

Our heart goes out to all those theatres who rely on the income from pantomime to survive. Panto is, in many cases, the most financially critical production a theatre will stage all year. It’s the show which brings the most people through the doors in the shortest space of time, and more often than not, underpins the finances of a venue for the rest of the year. It’s going to be incredibly hard for some in our sector to survive this crisis, through absolutely no fault of their own.

We are thinking of all the theatre and live events practitioners who have lost their livelihood this year. There are countless thousands of industry freelancers for whom there has been little work or support since March. This is real life for them, and the ripples of this pandemic are far reaching.

At the end of October 2020 the furlough scheme ends, and many employers within our industry will have no choice but to turn to shortened hours, layoffs and redundancies in order to survive. Taking steps like this isn’t just breaking up a team of work colleagues – it’s breaking up a family of expert theatrical practitioners, many of whom have taken years to learn their craft. Its emotionally draining for everyone involved – us as business owners, for our wonderful team and their families and for everyone who would usually work with us each Christmas. We find ourselves having to make decisions we desperately don’t want to and should not be having to make.

Yes, there is some theatre starting to happen now (mainly smaller scale productions which are financially viable under social distancing) and lots of ideas and plans are being discussed and rolled out, so there are signs of new growth. The question is whether this regrowth can happen fast enough and to a big enough scale to keep the industry afloat for long enough. We have our fingers and toes crossed.

In order for our wonderful theatre industry to survive until it can restart properly, there are some things which can be promoted widely to ensure it can climb out of its current predicament and rebuild.

• If you hear of a venue or production company running an online production but you’re not sure, please give it a go. Not only will your money really help them, but you might be pleasantly surprised just how good it is.

• Get back into theatres where you can – if socially distanced performances are happening and you feel confident to go back, please give it a try. These productions will need to sell out to be financially viable.

• Show a commitment to your local venue by purchasing season tickets or venue memberships – these also come with longer term benefits such as cut price tickets, money off at the bar etc

• Buy tickets or vouchers to future productions – once this is all over, theatres are going to need audiences. Perhaps this could be a good Christmas present?

• If you are due a refund and can afford to, please keep your money in the theatre until such point as you can rebook another performance. Part of the problem theatres face is having to refund ticket monies.

• If you can afford to, donate to your theatre. Many theatres are charities and the money will help them survive.

• Write to your local MP and ask for more help. The theatre industry will need long term help and support to survive and thrive again, including an extension of furlough to help until such time as we are able to reopen fully.

• If you watch a performance, on line, for free, where possible make a small donation towards the costs of streaming the production.

• Give the theatre world a shout out on social media and show your support – especially if you’ve done any of the points above.

Oliver Dowden has also been talking about ‘Operation Sleeping Beauty’ – a scheme to get theatres back open as soon as possible. This is wonderful news and it’s fantastic to hear that the DCMS and Government appreciate how critical theatre is to the country’s economy… but please remember Oliver, that theatre can’t restart overnight. It takes months and months of planning and preparation for productions to be ready, and many companies have had no option but to make some of their staff redundant to make their finances balance. Giving us the ‘go’ to reopen with full(er) audiences in October or November sadly means that the majority of pantomimes still can’t take place this Christmas. We just don’t have time to pull those productions together now. Oh, and there’s still those small matters of us not being able to get insurance to cover loss of income due to COVID for our shows, and the risk of a localised lockdown.

We really appreciate all the kind words of support and understanding that have been sent to us over the last few months. Thank you. We are sending so much love and support to the theatres, casts, creatives, crew, suppliers and absolutely everyone involved in creating the magic across theatre and pantoland. We WILL come back bigger and stronger than ever in 2021, creating wonderful magic and memories as we go.

Stay well and stay safe

Steve and Sarah x

Why postponement of some - but not all - of our 2020 panto season is our only option

Imagine Theatre has started to postpone some of its 2020 pantomime season by a year. Many of the shows which were planned for 2020 will now happen in 2021.

We completely understand the importance of pantomime to families, theatres and the local communities as well as the cast and crew members that we employ every year. It is a uniquely British collaboration. Panto is at the very heart of our community at Christmas time, with families all over the UK coming together to make memories that last a lifetime.

We know that the finances from panto are the lifeblood of many UK Theatres, from ticket monies to bar spend and merchandise, it is the single biggest production that many venues stage each year, often seeing more than 1/3 of their annual footfall over a 4 week period.  That’s why, alongside making these big decisions, we wanted to reassure everyone that where we are making these announcements, we are not cancelling completely but are POSTPONING the shows until 2021. In addition, we are also looking at whether there are any alternative options open to us. We will keep you posted as these thoughts develop and progress.

We’re sure many of you will be asking “surely it’s too soon to make a decision like this?” and “it’s only July, why are decisions being made so early?” so we thought we’d write another blog to explain why this is rapidly becoming the only course of action available to us in some venues, and the thoughts and reasoning behind it. We appreciate and understand that some of you will agree and some of you will disagree, but what we do want to explain is that these decisions took weeks and weeks to come to and were very carefully thought through from so many different angles and in full discussion and agreement with every single affected venue. Postponing a pantomime production is not a decision to be taken lightly, and we’re utterly heartbroken.

·         Surely it doesn’t take that long to prep for panto? Well, quite simply it does. Pantomime is on a constant 18-month cycle. Decisions about pantos 16 months away are taken in the August/ September of the previous year. What title? What dates? What ticket prices? What style of artwork? What profile of celebrities and performers do we need to approach? Etc This work is then completed ready for a show to go on sale as the previous year’s production opens.

The work on any particular pantomime really starts to ramp up from February of the year of the production and by the end of March, we’re firmly into the swing of pre-production meetings, casting, scripting, costumes, musical choices, marketing etc. But this year, that ground to a halt in mid-March and hasn’t been picked back up again. We’ve lost 4 months of the key preparation period and in line with all the majority of other producers and venues, have our entire team on Furlough.

·         No matter what we thought of, we found a barrier –  We drew up an enormous list of barriers and problems to try and solve, but no matter what we did, every single one of them, even with a solution in place, led to another barrier or potential problem. We touched upon many of them in our previous blog, but even the simplest of questions like ‘how do we keep actors and crew members socially distanced to the current government guidelines in the limited wing spaces theatres have whilst still fitting in all the scenery, props and special effects’ was a show stopper, without all of the same questions about social distancing in dressing rooms, in the auditoriums etc

·         The government has issued their roadmap but it has no timelines within it – As of July 2020, we have a roadmap of how we might return to theatres reopening and to full auditoriums, but there are no dates associated with these. We might start to prep for a full panto season, but then find that a theatre that we were due to perform in is unable to reopen for a number of reasons, or indeed the whole industry remains closed into 2021. We need guidance on timescales and rules to help us understand how the roadmap might be rolled out. There is a plan but we don’t know when it will be possible to go back into a theatre.

·         Social Distancing just doesn’t work for theatre - current guidelines state that social distancing will remain in place in auditoriums under phase 4. This means that capacity is currently believed to be cut to between around 30% to 40% of usual. Pantomime relies on playing to 80%+ capacities, 2 shows per day, 12 shows per week, to make it financially viable. With social distancing, that’s just not possible.

Plus, to make a venue Covid-19 compliant, it is looking like additional Front of House staffing will be needed for cleaning, temperature checking and so on – we’ve even heard one venue talk of the cost of their FOH staff and cleaners going up three fold. This actually makes the show more expensive for a venue to stage, but with less income coming in from box office. So quite simply, it becomes financially unviable for both the producer and the venue.

But most critically of all, we need to put the health and welfare of our casts, crew and audience members first – and if there were to be a breakout of Covid-19 in a theatre and it were to become a ‘hot spot’ then this could potentially be hugely damaging to the health of any individuals concerned. That is not a risk we’re prepared to take.

·         There is a financial rescue package that has been announced – but it doesn’t solve the problems that the virus presents, it simply provides what we hope will be enough money to help the industry survive. We don’t yet know how that package will be distributed and when.

·         “Panto Flu” does the rounds most years– with 2 shows a day, 12 shows per week there is an inevitability within the panto world that at some point within the run, someone in the cast will get ‘panto-flu’ and this can often spread to some other members of the company. Whilst we do our best to minimise this and all health and safety precautions are taken to minimise spread, usually the company keeps performing and battles through. We’ve known of star names with emergency dentists in their dressing rooms, isolation rooms for cast members who are not well, and swathes of juvenile ensemble not coming in because there is a sickness bug going round their school and we need to keep it out of the building, but up until now the show has always been able to go on.

But not this year. The moment anyone shows any sign of illness, we would have to send them home – and potentially the whole team working on the show. Once we lose 2 or 3 of the main cast or crew, the shows become unviable to run as there is only limited understudy provision possible on many productions. We’d be into a scenario of full ‘show stop’ for up to 2 weeks if someone were diagnosed with Covid-19, and no chance to recoup any investment and with the inevitable financial impact on the theatres themselves.

·         We can’t easily social distance backstage – ever been backstage in your local (or any) theatre? If so, you’ll know that the space is very limited.  At the best of times, its usually cramped and crowded. With social distancing, it’s impossible.

There is talk of casts going into ‘social bubbles’ but as well as all the logistical challenges this throws up, this could also mean everyone working on the production having to stay away from their families at Christmas.

·         Would the audiences come? - A company called Indigo is currently undertaking surveys of audiences to find out how willing they are to return. Numbers are currently indicating that 2021 seems to be the time when people would be confident to return. Plus, current guidance indicates that school trips may not be possible until 2021 and school groups make up a large percentage of our pantomime audience.

·         Can we get the insurances we need? – Part of the work behind the scenes is on making sure that the all right insurances are in place at the right times. This year, some of the usual insurances we take out are not available to us. This makes the financial risk even greater than usual. If we have to stop the show for any reason or there is a local lockdown, the losses we would incur are enormous with no way of recoupment.

·         We just can’t make the finances stack up – Pantomime works the same way as any production. There is a set of pre-production costs and a set of running costs. For a West End production, there is usually a relatively long period of time to recoup the pre-production costs alongside the running costs. For Pantomime, we have a fixed short amount of time for recoupment, a maximum of 6 weeks. And there is a real danger that we may lose some of that time to the show being closed due to illness should one of the cast test positive for covid-19 and we have to close for deep cleaning or other cast and crew go into quarantine.

Like many businesses, producing theatre is always a risk – but usually it’s a calculated risk and one which has consistent patterns year on year. This year is so different. We just won’ t be able to calculate the risk, either health wise or financially, and that’s not a risk we can take in the current circumstances – and we can only work with the information we currently have to hand on the day we have to make any decision.

So, the safest option for us seems to be to postpone some of our shows for a year and suffer short term loss to ensure our long-term future.

·         The producers have been talking to each other – These are not a decisions we have taken on our own. The pantomime producer’s community has really come together over this, with regular calls and chats with each other. We have all supported each other and worked together to collectively understand what all of this means for all of us and we find ourselves all facing the same problems and dilemmas regardless of scale of the production or venue.

·         There’s hardly any product to programme for the Autumn of 2020 and into early 2021 – for some venues it’s actually going to be easier for them to keep their venue mothballed until the spring of 2021, as there aren’t many shows for them to open for until then. Bigger tours take months to rehearse, and even smaller productions are reluctant to tour when there is no guarantee of an audience. Its more cost effective and safer for theatres to stay closed until the product is there for them to open with.

And we haven’t even mentioned the possibility that there could well be a second spike come the Autumn/ Winter of 2020 which may see us return to some of the lock down restrictions should there be the need, or the localised lockdowns which have started to take place…

The loss of some of our 2020 pantomime season will have an enormous effect on so many people and venues. We are truly sorry that decisions like this have had to be taken – but please rest assured that a huge amount of work has been and is still going on behind the scenes. What was, at the start of all of this, our worst-case scenario of not producing panto has now become the safest and best-case scenario in many places.

We believe that this solution is a short-term pain for a long-term gain. The truth is if all the pantomime producers take enormous risks this year and all go under at the same time, that could potentially be more catastrophic to the theatre and pantomime industry than one Christmas of us not producing some of the shows. It is safer for us to batten down the hatches this Christmas and produce again in 2021 – and pray the support we need is forthcoming.

We are sending all our love and best wishes to everyone who is involved in, performs, loves, creates and/ or watches panto. This year, more than ever, we are one big pantomime family and we will weather this storm and pantomime will come back bigger and stronger than ever in 2021, oh yes it will!

And we hope there will be an alternative offering coming - watch this space…

Take care everyone and stay safe and well.

Sending our best wishes to you all,

Steve and Sarah x

What is it like being a pantomime producer during the Covid 19 pandemic?

These are strange times. Usually by mid-May the Imagine Theatre Head Office team would be flat out with casting, scripting, preparing sets , wardrobe, props and marketing campaigns would be in full swing. With the planning for 16 shows all happening at the same time to manage, our days would usually be full to over flowing at this time of year with emails constantly pinging in, and the phone ringing constantly.

But this year it’s completely different.

Those usually busy phone lines have been transferred to Steve and Sarah’s home, and they are quiet. Many of our staff are currently on furlough and our inboxes are busy dealing with a multitude of emails never even considered in normal times. COVID-19 has turned a usually hustling and bustling company into a rather quiet one at the moment.

Our days are spent considering budgets and their impacts and meaning, speaking with theatres, listening to webinars from UK Theatre or such organisations, thinking a lot and listening to the government’s daily briefing, trying to understand what this means for our industry as a whole, as well as for pantomime come Christmas 2020. What we do know is that personal health, well being and welfare is paramount in this situation – for our staff, the theatre staff and for any potential audience members.

And the honest answer is that right now we just don’t know what this all means. There are more questions than there are answers. How can social distancing work in a theatre – for the audience? Front of house? Back stage? Do actors have to be 2 meters apart on stage? Can a wardrobe manager help with a quick change? What is the capacity of a socially distanced auditorium (word on the street is approx. 20% of usual capacity – slightly more in some venues, slightly less in others)? Will the finances stack up if we have to limit audience numbers but our production overheads remain almost the same? What happens if a cast or crew member becomes ill with Covid-19 during the rehearsal or performance process – does the rest of the cast have to isolate and are we in a ‘show stop’ scenario? How do we ensure that actors are 2m apart backstage if the dressing room area is limited? How do we manage social distancing backstage and side of stage where space is notoriously limited? The list goes on and is utterly endless.

However, the most important question of all is, if theatres do re-open, how confident will our audiences be to return before social distancing ends, or a vaccine is found? That’s the million dollar question.

With every person and organisation we talk to, there is a sense of the unknown. However, what we do know is that there is a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes and so we give a big shout out to the many organisations championing our cause including Equity, UK Theatres, SOLT, The Federation of Scottish Theatre, The Arts Council and absolutely everyone involved in trying to build a structured and co-ordinated approach to the situation from the theatre industry’s perspective. Thank you for all you are doing to help present our collective case to the Government and for working with us to try and understand the impact that all of this will have on us in the immediate, short and long terms.

So, while there are so many questions at present, what we do know is that it won’t be long until the right answers naturally presents themselves and whatever they are, we as an industry will be ready to pick up the panto baton again.

Stay safe and well everyone – because we really do mean it.

Sending you all our very best wishes

Steve and Sarah x

Casting – Everything you need to know

This blog is relevant to adults who are looking to apply for one of our principal performance roles whilst our main casting window is open. For ensemble roles, the same process applies, but please be aware that even though you will apply during the same window, we normally cast our ensemble once our main principal line up is in place due to the need for ensemble to pick up understudy tracks.
 
For children’s casting please click here and for production/creative teams and crew, please click here
 
Imagine Theatre welcomes applications from everyone and all applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or disability status.. Indeed, we are very lucky to receive thousands of applications each year from performers, creatives, stage management etc who want to work for us and it is therefore essential that we have a fair process which allows us to give every CV or spotlight link we receive the time and consideration it deserves.
 
The request on our website of HOW and WHEN to apply to us is part of that process, and we’d really appreciate it if you would help us to help you. 
 
We understand that applying for roles can be laborious and that you may want to try make your application stand out by doing something a little different. However, rather than sending us a message over social media or phoning in, please apply via the method stated on the website. Applying to us via a method that’s not listed on the casting page on our website, or applying outside the window of when we have casting open may affect the outcome of your submission. Your application may not get considered and we don’t want that to happen to anyone.
 
We are extremely active on our social media channels, therefore appreciate that we may appear old fashioned by not accepting applications via social media. Facebook and Instagram are not user friendly in allowing us to move messages about employment into any other format. We can’t move them into our casting database, and as a result they may not be processed and could get overlooked. In addition, these platforms don’t make it easy for us to download photos or CV’s. Our company ethos is to give everyone a fair chance and fair consideration and by sticking to the method stated at the end of this article we can ensure that this happens, we know we’ve not missed anyone who wants to be considered, and you know your application has been treated as you would like and expect it to be.
 
We wish we could audition everyone who applies to us, but with the sheer volume of applications it’s not feasible for that to happen. Therefore, as stated on our website, we only contact those we want to audition. We aim to post the dates of the principal auditions on our website and if you’ve not heard from us by the audition date, then you’ve not been selected for an audition with us. 
 
It’s also worth bearing in mind that, although you may not hear from us in a particular year, that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in receiving your CV again in subsequent years. Some years the balance of roles means that we might be looking for more Dames and comics, or another year we might need more principal girls and father roles. It all depends upon the mix of titles we’re producing and what casting may already be in place. A breakdown of the roles that we are casting for will be posted on our website and spotlight ahead of the audition calls going out. If there isn’t anything that fits your casting bracket this season, please keep applying in following years. Never say never! You never know what a casting team saw in you or your initial application and what they might want later down the line. 
 
What we will do is make a commitment that if you have an audition with us, we will let you or your agent know the outcome, however this may not be straight away. Due to the fact we are usually casting for multiple productions all over the country, casting is a huge jigsaw puzzle that sometimes requires 3 or 4 key people to fall into place before we can cast the rest. If they don’t accept straight away and we’re left waiting for a little while, this can have an impact on the rest of the casting. It might be waiting for a ‘name’ to confirm, resident dames/comics or just that someone is waiting to hear if something such as a touring contract is going to happen for them. We promise we try to do things as fast as we can, but as you can now appreciate, it’s not that simple. 
 
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and we look forward to hearing from you.
 
The email to apply for both Principal and Ensemble Understudy roles to is casting@imaginetheatre.co.uk – this inbox is manned during the time that we say casting is open on our website. This date will also be announced on social media, so please keep an eye out on our channels for opening and closing dates. It may feel like you’ve not heard back from us, but so long as you apply at the right time and get our email bounce back reply then your application will be being considered by us. Please DO NOT apply to individual emails within the company, we only accept applications sent to the casting email as stated above.

Thank you Newark and Southport

We’ve had the most wonderful 5 years producing the pantomime at the Palace Theatre, Newark and 6 years producing the pantomime at Southport Theatre.

Although we won’t be producing pantomime at those venues in 2020 we would like to thank the venue staff & audiences for their support and we hope to bring other shows to your venues in years to come

There are some super exciting times ahead for Imagine with new panto venues about to be announced for 2020.

Happy New Year

We're open at Fairfield Halls - Croydon Blog 10 - December 2019

Well, it’s been 2 years in the making but Cinderella at the Fairfield Halls is finally open. It’s been an incredible journey, but when you see the show you will understand just why this production has been so dear to our hearts and what has made it so very special.

Cat Sandion as the Fairy Godmother and Grace Chapman as Cinderella. Cinderella shall go to the ball! Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

 It’s utterly groundbreaking. There’s no other way to describe it. It’s innovative, clever, and moves the pantomime genre into the next decade with style and panache. And we’re hugely proud of the team who have worked so hard to make it all happen.

 We’ve talked about the cast in previous blogs so for this post we’re just going to say Ore, Tim, Cat, Grave, Katie, Jason, Alistair, James B, James A, Lizzie, Melanie, Samuel, Joseph and Lily, you are just amazing. Thank you for all your hard work and enjoy the run.

Ore Oduba as Dandini. In the Palace.Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

 The focus of this blog is going to be about those who have worked behind the scenes to bring this incredible production to life. This blog belongs to them and they’re amazing people. It’s impossible to single any one person out, because they have all played an incredible role in what is a completely unique and special project which we strongly believe is the way forward for pantomime in the future. From the initial vision, through set and costume designs, to animation, through lighting and sound to music and scripting, it takes team work to pull something like this off. Therefore, rather than single any one of them out, we’d like to pay homage to their work by simply showing you the incredible production photos, and giving a VERY long list of those who have worked on the project. Thank you to each and every one of you who has been involved. We appreciate it more than words can say

James Bisp as Prince Charming and Grace Chapman as Cinderella. Falling in love! Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

And finally to Neil Chandler and the amazing team at Fairfield. Thank you for letting us create this amazing pantomime world in your beautiful concert hall, which we’re sure in its history has never seen anything quite like this! Thank you for trusting us. Thanks for working with us and we look forward to what panto 2020 will bring! x

Jason Marc Williams and Alistair Barron as the Ugly Sisters. In the village. Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

Grace Chapman as Cinderella. You shall go to the ball! Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn..

Producers – Steve Boden and Sarah Boden for Imagine Theatre

Associate producer – Laura Taylor

Director - George Wood

Choreographer - Lynne Thomas

Musical Arranger - Steve Power

Musical Director - Steve Clark

Lighting Designer - Jamie Corbidge

Sound Designer - Mike Thacker

Set and Costume Designer - Mark Walters

Video Designer - Nina Dunn

Disguise Programmer - Luigi Sardi

Video Production Engineer - Harrison Cooke

Scenic build coordinator – Dave Edmunds

Costume coordinator for Imagine Theatre – Dawn Outhwaite

Production Manager - John Young

Company Manager - Nick Farmer

DSM on the Book - Laura Barton

Technical Stage Manager - Alastair Kleissner

ASM - Samantha Gardiner

Wardrobe Supervisor - Sarah Holland

Wardrobe Manager - Jennie Quirk

Wardrobe Deputy - Victoria Coles

Costume Makers - Sarah Holland, Stephanie Harvey, Frank Kershaw, Chic Chapeau, Wig Room

Musical Director/Keys - Steve Clark

Drummer - Mike Osborn

Bass - Dominic Palmer

Assistant Choreographer - Sian Owen

LX Programmer - Rachel Moule

Video Content Production - PixelLux

Illustrator - Elfyn Round

3D animator - Paul Roberts

3D animator - Olly Venning

2D animator - Tamaš Nadudvari

2D animator - Matthew Brown

2D animator - Letty Fox

Production Co-ordinator - Laura Salmi

Dance Captain - Joseph Lukehurst

Chaperones - Michaela Kelly and Team

Year of behind the scenes administration/ planning/ preparation and hard work – The Imagine Theatre HQ team

In the forest. Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

Tim Vine as Buttons. Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

Katie Cameron as The Wicked Stepmother. Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

Ore Oduba as Dandini. At the Ball. Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

Cat Sandion as the Fairy Godmother. Photo credit - Craig Sugden. Copyright design and image - Imagine Theatre Ltd. Scenic Design - Mark Walters. Animation - Nina Dunn.

August is over! It’s almost time for the Halls to re-open - Croydon Blog 7 - August 2019

August has been another busy month in the world of Cinderella at Fairfield Halls, Croydon. Most people have been enjoying their summer holidays but not so for the team working on the show! The temperature has been rising in the design studios and workshops across the country.

Things are progressing well over at Fairfield Halls. Work is almost complete, and the seats are all fitted back in the Phoenix Concert Hall, where we will be performing. There are painters and decorators everywhere. The venue is well on track for its re-opening in just 2 weeks’ time!

The Halls are re-emerging from behind the hoardings! Source https://twitter.com/ErmerlindaJ/status/1162748360631246849

The first piece of panto related news to announce is that we welcome Nina Dunn on board as our Video Designer Nina is a really exciting appointment for us. Nina has worked on some amazing theatrical productions recently including 9 to 5 at the Savoy Theatre and the tour of In The Night Garden. This is the first panto that Nina has worked on and the first time that Imagine have included so much video content into one of their shows. The ideas being discussed are really exciting and we can’t wait to see the finished product. Nina is working very closely with the designer Mark Walters to ensure that the A/V content of the show has the right feel and style to the rest of the show. Having video content in the show has certainly got the creative juices flowing within the creative team.

L-R Nina Dunn (Video Designer), Laura Taylor (Imagine Theatre), Will Brenton (Script Writer) and Steve Boden (Imagine Theatre) met in London recently to talk through how the scripting will integrate with the set and all the other exciting things we have up our sleeves!

The second big piece of news to share with you is that the script is well under way and our writer is confirmed. This is the last part of the project to fall into place.

We’re absolutely delighted to welcome Will Brenton on board as the writer of Cinderella. We’ve not said much yet about the technology integration within the show, but with his experience in theatre, arena shows, TV and panto script writing, Will became the obvious choice. Will has written many pantos for us and also directed and is currently working as a director on the TV show Emmerdale. We’re looking forward to receiving his first draft of this new version of the show.

The set build is well under way. The newly created Imagine Theatre Scenic Workshops, overseen by Dave Edmunds our Head of Operations, are working their magic to bring Mark Walter’s beautiful set designs to life. Imagine has always been able to build scenic elements - we’ve now just made the set up a little bigger. Things are progressing along well with the build, and we should have some photos to share with you soon but in the mean time there’s a sneak peak below. It’s possibly one of the most complex builds we’ve ever undertaken or worked on, whilst also being deceptively simple in its look. We can’t wait to share it with you!

A sneaky peak of some of the design currently being built, waiting to be painted and then used for… well we can’t tell you just yet! . We can’t tell you how beautiful the overall design is. It literally takes our breath away every single time we see it.

Dawn Outhwaite, Head of Wardrobe for Imagine Theatre, is overseeing the costume makes. Mark Walters costume designs compliment the set beautifully. We have a whole team working with Dawn to bring Mark’s vision to life. Dawn recently went fabric shopping with Mark, our designer. Here’s an idea of some of the fabric colours they chose, and she and the team are now working with.

The fabrics are so colourful and vibrant. We can’t wait to see them made up into the costumes.

So, we move onwards into September, and the venue is almost ready for its handover, the gala re-opening with Dame Judi Dench on Monday 16th September. It really is all go in Croydon!

July, July! Summer’s here and our children are cast - Croydon Blog 6 - July 2019

July is nearing its end and August is almost upon us. That means there’s less than 4 months to go until Cinderella at Fairfield Halls goes into rehearsals!

The main event to update on is that our children’s ensemble is cast! The Imagine team had a fantastic day at the end of June casting our three teams of 8 children. The queue was so long that it snaked around the building and there was a huge amount of excitement in the air from both the children and their families there to support them. It was extremely exciting to see the buzz that is already being created around the production and the joy generated through an opportunity that allowed children from all backgrounds between the ages of 9-16 to audition for their chance to be a part of the Fairfield Halls pantomime.

The queue for the junior ensemble auditions went round the building!

Choreographer Lynne Thomas puts the children through their paces in front of the judging panel

139 young people took part in the auditions and the standard was amazing. Our Choreographer Lynne Thomas really had to put them through their paces. The morning cuts led to recalls in the afternoon, and a closely fought but very supportive and friendly second round. Casting the final teams plus a team of reserves was tough but we’re thrilled to introduce you to them. They’ll attend all rehearsals but then split the run between them.

Introducing our three teams of children who will appear in Cinderella

In another casting update, we’re delighted to welcome two more principal cast members to the team. American actress Katie Cameron will play the Wicked Stepmother and James Bisp plays Prince Charming. Katie has worked for Imagine twice before and has always been an absolute smash hit. She played the Wicked Queen in Snow White at the Hexagon, Reading for us in 2016 to rave reviews and will bring her own unique New Yorker twang to the part. She really is fabulous! James is new to Imagine but we’re really excited to work with him and to see how he and Ore Oduba work in the double act of Prince/ Dandini.

It’s been a busy month in the world of costume design. Our amazing designer, Mark Walters, has now finished the costume designs and we’ve started to commission makers. They are fabulous and tie in beautifully with Marks set design and colour palette for the show. Here’s a sneak peak of one of the fabulous designs Mark has done for the Wicked Stepmother.

The Wicked Stepmother costume design which will be worn by Katie Cameron

We’ve also started to make some big progress on the set build. We’ll update you more on this in future months.

Last week also saw another production meeting for the show at our offices in Coventry. This time it was the turn of Production Manager John Young and Lighting Designer Jamie Corbidge to get together with the Imagine head office team of Laura Taylor and Dave Edmunds, to start the detailed planning of how the set will fit up, the lighting designs will work and to understand how all the technology which forms such a critical part of the production will integrate together. To watch John and Jamie’s reactions to the designs and ideas was great for us to see. The concept and model are consistently getting extremely positive and excited feedback and we can’t wait to share it with you!

We’ve been asked on several occasions by people working on the show whose concept this show is? Well, we’re very proud to say it’s the brainchild of our MD Steve Boden, who came up with the principals and concepts of how he visualised this production working. His ideas were then turned into a design concept by the amazing Mark Walters. We will run a more detailed story about it in the coming months, once we have more images of the set build to share. It really is something different and exciting!

So, we move onwards into August, where we will start to physically be able to hold set pieces and costumes.  Script work will continue to progress well, and the venue will be nearing its handover, ready for the re-opening on 16th September and its first gala concert on 18th September. It really is all go in Croydon!