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Getting a Panto on the RoadDateline: 26th November, 2006Most theatres outside of the West End present a panto at Christmas. It's a British tradition, passed on from generation to generation. It's also a good money-raiser: many theatres rely upon their pantos to keep them going throughout the rest of the year. And it's not just the professional theatres: amateur companies too, both dramatic and musical, offer their own pantos. And just in case there aren't enough pantos in theatres, there are also touring shows, working in non-theatre venues such as schools. One such is the panto produced by Beverley Artistes, an entertainments agency in South Shields, which will tour to some schools but mainly to working men's clubs throughout the North East, from Lynemouth in Northumberland to Eston on Teesside. BTG editor Peter Lathan was approached to direct it. These are his experiences: I came to this late. They'd had another director, a former student of mine now doing a (late) university course. He had to drop out because the rehearsals would clash with an important part of the course, so could I take over? This was in mid-October. So I agreed to meet with Paul of Bev's and see what was on offer. What I discovered was that they had already advertised and started booking Cinderella; that the budget was limited; that they were planning to use six student actors; that there were to be four days of rehearsal and that they had a script. However I didn't want to use students, not with just four rehearsal days and a four week tour, so we fell to negotiating. Eventually we agreed I could use five professional actors and I went off to read the script. I didn't like it and it couldn't be done with just five actors, so that meant I would have to write it myself. With five actors we could have six parts: the Fairy Godmother doubling Prince Charming, Cinderella, Buttons, and the two Ugly Sisters. So we'd have to lose Dandini, Baron Hardup and, of course, the Broker's Men. As I wrote (it took three weeks) I started to cast. Buttons and one of the Uglies were cast straightaway. One actor (Iain Cunningham: Bottons) I'd worked with before often and I'd seen the other Bill E Meeks a number of times. Because it was so late in the year, many of the people I would have used were already booked for other jobs (usually panto!). There were two possibilities for principal boy (Jill Dellow and Michelle Lindsay), both of whom I've worked with regularly, but neither could do the full run: however they suggested that they would job-share and that way we could cover the whole run - except for one day! After a bit of hunting I found someone who would be willing to do the one day. Cinders was a slight problem: Viktoria Kay is someone I've also worked with before and she was keen to do it but she needed to get time off her "fill-in" job in a school. Fortunately her boss was happy for her to do so in return for tickets for the kids for one of the performances. Bev's obliged, thank goodness! That left the second Ugly. Could I find anyone? No way! Guys I spoke to directly were already working; a local agent also didn't have anyone free. By this time it was into November with rehearsals starting on 27th and I was getting very worried. Then I remembered a young actor I'd seen in a play earlier in the year and I thought he might well be right for the part. I contacted him and yes, he could and would do it. By this time the script was finished, so I emailed it to all the cast with instructions to learn it before the first rehearsal and started planning costumes, set, props, sound effects and music. Paul and his colleagues at Bev's couldn't have been more helpful and this week everything came together: set and cloths painted, costumes altered or made, props found, sound track created and recorded on mini-disc and rehearsal room organised. Tomorrow - Monday 27th - we start rehearsals and on Friday we have our first show. Watch this space next week to see how it all goes!
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