The Travelling Pantomime rehearsals begin

Rehearsals have begun for our eagerly anticipated festive production, The Travelling Pantomime. We still plan to take the show on the road in York this Christmas.

The Government Department of Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed that while entertainment venues must close from Thursday, theatre rehearsals can continue behind closed doors.

Our Executive Director, Tom Bird, said: “We are delighted to welcome our fantastic cast to York Theatre Royal to begin rehearsals for The Travelling Pantomime. We have put Covid safety measures in place and will be carefully following Government guidelines over the weeks ahead but are thrilled that we can carry on with our plans to take our pantomime out to the people of York this year.

“We are in conversation with venues across our city and how and when we can visit them and will be announcing more about this in the days and weeks ahead. We also plan to film and broadcast the show, so be assured, one way or another York Theatre Royal’s Travelling Pantomime will be coming to you.”

Our Associate Director, Juliet Forster, directs The Travelling Pantomime, with Hannah Sibai as Designer and Hayley Del Harrison as Choreographer.

The Musical Director is James Harrison, who was musical supervisor/director for Evolution Productions’ Cinderella at Sheffield Lyceum Theatre last Christmas. That won him the Best Music prize at The Great British Pantomime Awards.

The cast of five includes several performers familiar to York Theatre Royal audiences. Robin Simpson (The Dame) was last seen there in Northern Broadsides’ Much Ado About Nothing. Other York Theatre Royal appearances include The Railway Children, The Wind in the Willows, Pinocchio and Pygmalion.

He has played the Dame at the Lawrence Batley Theatre for the last three years. He’s also a storyteller and works in schools, libraries and museums all over the country, telling stories to children and adults alike.

The cast also includes York entertainer and magician Josh Benson (playing The Comic). His previous credits include the BBC Morecambe and Wise biopic Eric and Ernie (playing Little Ernie) and the musical Calendar Girls in its world premiere production in Leeds and at London’s Phoenix Theatre.

Anna Soden (The Fairy/Singing Captain) also appeared in a York Theatre Royal pantomime as a ten-year-old in 2006’s Cinderella. She graduated from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2017 and recently appeared with Cosmic Collective Theatre in Heaven’s Gate in our Pop Up on the Patio season this summer.

Actor and writer Reuben Johnson (The Villain) was seen in our production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge last year.

Previous credits for Faye Campbell (The Hero) include Peter Pan Reimagined (Birmingham Rep), NYT’s The Hole (Birmingham Old Rep) and Snow White (Sixteenfeet Productions).

At the start of each performance, the cast will be asking the audience to choose between three different panto favourites; Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Award-winning pantomime writer Paul Hendy is writing all the scripts and our actors will perform whichever show the audience decide (we’re not mad. Oh, yes you are!).