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They fill the coffers, nurture audiences and enable venues’ other activities. Pantomimes are pivotal for the UK stage industry – a year without them could be catastrophic
It’s like a scene from Dr Seuss’s Grinch. Week by week, pantomimes across the land are being cancelled. For many families, there will be no date with the dame this Christmas due to uncertainty about easing lockdown restrictions for theatres. Though it is only August, pantos take months to prepare and many venues and producers have been unable to commit to spending money on shows that might be scrapped. Theatr Clwyd in Mold, the Tron in Glasgow and Sheffield Theatres are among those that have postponed their pantos until next year. On Monday, Canterbury’s Marlowe theatre did the same. Its Christmas production is normally seen by 100,000 people.
Michael Harrison, joint owner of the huge Qdos Pantomimes operation, has been calling for greater clarity about the timing for stages four and five of the UK government’s roadmap to reopening theatres, which would permit larger audiences for indoor performances. For Qdos’s panto season to happen “as we know it”, Harrison said he needed to know target dates for reopening by the start of August. With culture secretary Oliver Dowden’s recent confirmation that a timeframe is now unlikely to be given until November at earliest, Qdos says it is “left with no choice but to begin the consultation process with our partner theatres about the viability of each show”. Continue reading...