Two North East theatres, the Customs House in South Shields and the Gala in Durham, have chosen Jack and the Beanstalk as their panto this Christmas.
The first to open will be the Gala production where, as usual, Neil Armstrong and Paul Hartley will star, write and direct, and, again as usual, Armstrong will play the villain, this time the evil wizard Fleshcreep, and Hartley will the comic, in this panto Silly Simon, hero Jack’s brother.
Jack will be played by Jamie Brown, who was seen most recently at the theatre in The Fighting Bradfords, and the love of his life, the beautiful Princess Jilliane, is played by Sarah Boulter. Paul Dunn is Jack and Simon’s mother, Dame Trott, and Sally Collett completes the cast as the good Fairy Moonflower.
The Princess has been kidnapped by the evil Fleshcreep. With the help of the good Fairy Moonflower, Simon and Dame Trott, Jack must climb a giant beanstalk, storm a castle in the clouds and defeat an angry giant if he is to win the heart of the Princess and bring back prosperity to his home town.
Opening on 24 November, the Durham Jack and the Beanstalk runs until 7 January, 2016.
Just five days later, on 29 November, the Customs House production will open. Leading the cast as the Dame, co-writing (with Graeme Thompson) the script and directing is the theatre’s Executive Director Ray Spencer.
Spencer is one of the most experienced panto performers in the region. He played Tommy, the daft son of Dame Dotty (Bob Stott), for more than thirty years until Stott retired and he donned the Dame’s bra.
Joining him are his real-life daughter, Natasha Haws, who plays Principal Girl, panto regular Steven Lee Hamilton as baddie Fleshcreep, Luke Maddison returns as Jack and Gareth Hunter also makes a return to the Customs House stage as the Mayor of Cooksonville, father of our heroine.
New to the venue’s panto are David John Hopper as the Dame’s madcap son, Arbuthnot, and Geordie the Musical’s Eleanor Chaganis as the Fairy.
For the seventh year, Paul Shriek and Matt Fox will create the set and costumes.
“We are known as the little panto with the big heart,” said Ray Spencer, “but this year we’ll be the little panto with the GIANT heart!”
The Customs House Jack and the Beanstalk also ends its run on 7 January.