Panto Time Gets HiTech in Reading

 

 

Audiences at The Hexagon theatre’s pantomime Cinderella will notice this year’s spectacular is … well, more spectacular. And it’s all thanks to a new digital set.

There will be something old (some of the jokes), something new (the backdrops), something borrowed (Cinder’s slipper), but nothing blue as this is a family show, created once again for Reading Arts by Imagine Theatre.

The show once again sees CBeebies legend Justin Fletcher team up with his festive partner in crime Paul Morse. They play Buttons and Nanny Gumdrop and they will get up to their usual mixture of hi-jinks, slapstick fun and messy cake decorating.

Also returning are Carl Tracey as the Prince, and Rachel Delooze and Bex Allingham as the Wicked Stepsisters. Joining them will be Samantha Dorrance as Cinderella, Cassandra Lee as the Fairy Godmother, Adam Pettigrew as Dandini, and Ally Cox as the Wicked Stepmother.

Alongside them will be a talented cast of young dancers, selected from open auditions held by Imagine Theatre at The Hexagon in the summer. Hundreds queued up to take part, and were whittled down to three small troupes that will perform in shows across the run.  

The digital screens will be the icing on the Christmas cake.

Imagine Theatre says the high-tech panels will wrap around the stage and all the show’s scenery will be projected onto them.

In a promotional video introducing the setup that you can watch below, Justin Fletcher says: “They’re very magical, new sets with a brand-new projection system.”

 

 

Sample sets shown in the show promo on the whatsonreading.com website show butterflies fluttering across the screen, a windmill with moving sails, and flying clouds as well as Cinderella’s pumpkin patch coach flying away to the ball.

Purists will be delighted that the screens feature artwork that look like the highly detailed and magical sets of old, in keeping with tradition while also moving firmly with the times.

The show’s director, and Imagine’s managing director, is Steve Boden. He can’t wait for audiences to see the changes.

“Panto as an art form has been around for hundreds of years because it evolves, it keeps up to date, it challenges itself and it’s not afraid to look at itself, social trends and make a direct and indirect commentary on that,” he explains.

“Technology is clearly part of our world, and it has immeasurably enhanced the way people interact with arts, performance, news and leisure.”

The screens have been several years in the making. Steve says they had planning meetings where the Imagine team asked what they could do that was different, would challenge the art form of panto and make it more current.

He says that with the younger generation growing up in a world where screens are normal, Imagine could experiment with theatre.

“We asked if there was a world where we could enhance pantomime and the way we tell stories using screens,” Steve continues. “The Hexagon is the perfect venue to put in a piece of tech that changes the way we present pantomime.

“Pantomime is a massive technical and physical infrastructure without screens: there are a number of physical scenic elements: trucks, houses, staircases … it all takes up a lot of space.

“Venues like The Hexagon have limited backstage space and you’re always looking for ways to maximise your amount of spectacle without bearing the constraints of space.

“This solves some of those problems.”

 

 

The digital screens have been designed by Mark Walters, who won Best Set Design at the UK Pantomime Association’s annual awards for Imagine’s production of Beauty and the Beast in Swansea. He has also created sets for the London Palladium’s pantomimes including Peter Pan, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and this year’s Robin Hood.

Steve says: “He was very happy to get involved and work with us to develop a new digital concept.”

But those worried the show will be too radically different should be reassured.

“We worked with Mark because our panto purists, and those families who go every year, don’t want to feel they are watching something they cannot relate to,” Steve says.

“Everything must be in the balance, so there are scenic elements, traditional painted bit of scenery, so you step into the auditorium and immediately go, ‘Oh yes, I feel familiar with this, this is pantomime’. You won’t think you’ve gone to the cinema.

“We want to maintain that feeling of spectacle and magic that only theatre can give you.”

Paul Morse, who has become Reading’s resident dame, is now performing in his third Cinderella for The Hexagon – back in 2014, he made his debut here playing one of the Ugly Sisters. The show’s cast included much-missed Hairy Biker Dave Myers as Baron Hardup, Liza Goddard as the Fairy Godmother and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Jon Clegg.

The show was reprised in 2019, in what was Justin Fletcher’s first script and by this point Paul had formed a firm double act with the CBeebies legend, famous for shows such as Gigglebiz, Justin’s House, and Something Special.

Paul can’t wait to come back and is looking forward to the new set.

“I think it will be mind blowing,” he says. “It is going to be spectacular for the audience to see and will really push the boundaries of what panto can do.”

Paul is no Luddite either.

“I think any institution has to evolve with the times, otherwise it becomes dated, a bit tired and runs the risk of becoming irrelevant,” he says.

“When I first started doing pantomime 410 years ago, we had real ponies, and they would pull Cinderella’s carriage. Then it became mechanical flying carriages, and this year with the digital screen, it will be completely new, and it will be nice to see what the reaction will be.”

And he knows the show must go on even if something doesn’t quite work … such as seeing his wig fall off, breaking into fits of giggles when a cast member makes him laugh, or a prop failing. It’s all happened before, so he’s not phased in the slightest.

“People like that feeling that anything could go wrong. And let’s face it,” he laughs, the audience loves it when it happens.

“I’m looking forward to seeing this whole new 21st century pantomime, it’s going to be really, really something quite special.”

Cinderella is being performed at The Hexagon, Reading from Saturday, December 7, 2024, through to Sunday, January 5, 2025.

Performance times vary, and tickets cost from £20 to £39. Group discounts are available.

For more details go to: https://whatsonreading.com/cinders