8 November 2024

Sarah Boden, CEO of Imagine Theatre, provides an update on all the preparations going on in Panto Land!

Panto season is officially here for Team Imagine. Press launches are now in full swing across the country, and our first four pantos are already in rehearsals (Coventry, Kilmarnock, Rotherham and Glasgow) with the remining 17 about to follow in very close succession. The first one opens on 20 November and then the opening and press nights just keep coming!

At this point we are packing and preparing apace. Costumes going into trundles, props into skips, scripts being posted out; sets and shoes are being glittered; chaperone report templates being prepared; company managers boxes are being filled and so much more.

The logistics behind the scenes at Imagine HQ in Coventry are something to behold, with hundreds of packing and picking lists being updated and double checked in advance of the tidal wave of loadouts and rehearsal reports.

More than 1,000 adults and children will join our team on short term contracts over the panto season, sparking lots of process and planning making sure we successfully induct them and pay them on time, alongside making sure the more than 100 lorries are all loaded and unloaded on time.

It takes an enormous army to put on a panto season – the team at Imagine HQ; joining cast, crew and creatives; teams at each venue; our suppliers; families of the children and so many more.

If you are about to play a role in panto, no matter how big or small, thank you. We really couldn’t do it without you.