Your Christmas panto guide - oh yes it is!
Last updated 14:12, Tuesday, 25 November 2008
A Christmas Carol, Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, Saturday November 29 - Saturday January 17
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick is staging a revival of its first-ever production, a theatrical version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
The famous story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghosts who persuade him to change his miserly ways has been adapted for the stage by David Holman.
A Christmas Carol has been a huge hit ever since it was first published in 1843. It has been filmed and adapted for television many times; it has been turned into an opera and also frequently parodied. In the 165 years since it was written, its popularity has never faded. Familiar actors will be back in Keswick – including Simeon Truby, a veteran of the 1999 production. Tickets £10-£20.
Beauty and The Beast, Whitehaven Civic Hall, Tuesday December 9 to Saturday December 13
As always, Whitehaven Theatre Group promises to put on a show to remember. This year it is Beauty and The Beast and it runs nightly at 7pm from Tuesday, December 9 to Saturday, December 13 with matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. You can expect plenty of fun and laughter with music from the likes of Mamma Mia and High School Musical. It is being directed by Yvonne Chapman and choreographed by Victoria Vincent, with music by Elizabeth Blight and Joan Johnson. Tickets are £6, available from the Civic Hall on 01946 514960.
From Wednesday, December 17 until Tuesday, December 30 the Theatre also hosts A Touch of Magic
A Christmas show of festive readings interspersed with illusions. It will be performed by magician Tony Middleton each night at 10.15pm. Tickets £5. ll tickets are available online from www.theatrebythelake.co.uk or call 017687 74411.
Jack and the Beanstalk, The Sands Centre, Carlisle, Wednesday December 17 – New Year’s Eve
Jack is played by Wayne Smith, star of ITV’s Grease Is the Word, who is making a return visit to the Sands Centre. He was last there in February when he appeared in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The princess is played by Lauren Drummond, known to BBC audiences for appearances in Waterloo Road and Holby City, while TV presenter Billy Walker from Workington plays the villain Dr Evilstein CFM breakfast radio presenter Robbie Dee, who has appeared in five previous Sands Centre pantos, returns for his sixth as Dame Kitty Trott, West End star Danielle Carson plays Doris and Tim Messent, holder of six national rowing medals, makes his debut as the giant. Once again, young performers from StagedRight, the Sands Centre’s youth theatre company, are also appearing. Tickets £9-£10.50 (plus concessions), available from www.thesandscentre.co.uk or call 01228 625222.
Red Riding Hood, West Walls Theatre, Carlisle, Monday, December 1 – Saturday, December 13 (except December 4 and December 11).
Adapted by north Cumbria’s writing and acting ‘dynamic duo’ of James Sparks and Michael Spencer, (who are well-known to theatre-goers in north Cumbria) this is an inimitable, hilarious ‘Sparks & Spencer’ production.
Featuring (among others) Malcolm Dunn as the Dame and Grandma, Mark Davidson as Woody (the love interest) and Sparks & Spencer as gingerbread men, escaped convicts and policemen this is a panto for children and the young at heart of every age.
Tickets £7/£6, from Carlisle TIC. Call 01228 625600.
Cinderella, John Peel Theatre, Wigton, Friday, December 5 – Saturday, December 13
Adapted by Pat Conlan from the classic tale, needless to say Wigton Theatre Club’s version has a few twists and lots of local in-jokes. Tickets £5, available from Station Road Garage. Call 016973 44620.
Cinderella, Rosehill Theatre, Whitehaven, Friday, December 19, at 7pm/Saturday, December 20, 1pm and 7pm/Sunday, December 21, 3pm.
Performed in the tradition panto style Cinderella tells the rags to riches story of a young girl who is looking for her prince. Guaranteed festive fun for all the family. Tickets £5.
Professor Bumm’s Christmas Story Machine, Rosehill Theatre, Whitehaven, Friday, December 7, 2pm.
A family comedy which describes how the professor and his assistant Dr Whee try to get their story machine to work. Featuring carol singing, an improvised pantomime, the world’s grittiest grotto and an exploding duck, it’s sure to be an afternoon of mayhem. Suitable for 7 to 12 year olds.
Tickets £6 adults/£5 children/£20 family ticket.
Les Miserables – Le Panto, Rosehill Theatre, Whitehaven, Friday, December 12, at 7.30pm/ Saturday, December 13, 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
Oddsock’s Productions’ unique brand of comedy and visual tomfoolery make them a firm favourite with audiences at Rosehill Theatre and this pantomime version of the famous novel and musical set in 19th-century France is sure to sell out quickly.
Tickets £13 adults/£9 children/£20 family ticket. Tickets for all Rosehill Theatre events can be booked through www.rosehilltheatre.co.uk or by calling 01946 692422.
Babes in the Wood, Carnegie Theatre, Workington, Friday, December 26, at 1pm; Saturday, December 27 and Sunday, December 28, at 2pm and 5.30pm.
Workington and District Amateur Musical Society perform the classic tale of children lost in a forest, which draws on the Brothers Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel.
Tickets £7/£6.50, available by calling 01900 602122. Visit www.carnegietheatre.co.uk for more information.
A Christmas Carol, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Friday, December 12 – Saturday, January 10
It’s Christmas Eve and all is not well in London town.
The tale begins with greedy Mr Ebenezer Scrooge, struggling with the credit crunch and watching his investments in the British banking system collapsing around him.
Bob Cratchet wants a day off work to rehearse his amateur production of the tragic love story Cinderella to be performed on Christmas day, but he has no one to play the ugly sisters.
Meanwhile, Scrooge is taken on journeys by three ghosts named Carol. He travels into the past, the present and the future as the Carols – who no one can see apart from Scrooge and Tiny ‘I see dead people’ Tim – attempt to show him the error of his ways.
Tickets £8 – £41 (family). Visit www.breweryarts.co.uk or call 01539 722833 to book.
The Adventures of Sinbad, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Hexham, Friday, December 5, 7pm/Saturday, December 6, 2pm/7pm
Join Sinbad on his amazing, swash-buckling adventure to win the hand of the luscious Princess Lavishka. Arabian fun for all the family, written by David Nixon and performed by the Queen’s Hall Theatre Club.
Tickets £6-£25 (family), available online from www.queenshall.co.uk or call 01434 652477.
Cinderella, Rosehill Theatre, Whitehaven, December 19 to 21
Rosehill Youth Theatre will be presenting Cinderella from Friday, December 19 to Sunday, December 21. It will be performed in the traditional panto style, telling the rags to riches story of a young girl who is looking for her prince. It promises festive fun for all the family.
