We lift the curtain on the perfect panto
You take your seat in the theatre; the curtain rises; the auditorium hushes. It’s the start of two hours of magic and mayhem. But for the scores of people involved - from actors, dancers, and musicians to stagehands, set designers and costumer makers it’s the culmination of 12 months of hard work. We went behind the scenes to see what goes into putting on the Gala Theatre’s biggest production of the year - their perfect panto!
Counting down… 12 months to go -
the clock has only just struck midnight on 2015’s Cinderella, but joint writers and directors Neil Armstrong and Paul Hartley are already thinking big about 2016. Neil (who hams it up as the baddy) and Paul (the unlucky-in-love sidekick) get straight to writing the script in January.
Paul explains how they get their inspiration. “Jack and the Beanstalk stood out as the ideas and jokes just kept popping into our heads. This year we had the script finished by March. The sooner we’re done, the musical director can start thinking ‘ooh I’ll do a big number for that scene’; the designer knows what characters to design costumes for; and everyone involved from lights to sound to choreography can start work.”
Nine months to go - every panto needs top tunes.
Adding the right blend of music is the job of Musical Director, Mark Thompson. Jack and the Beanstalk will be his fifth pantomime, so he knows a jolly panto tune when he hears one. “I get the script in April. Sometimes the directors might specify a song and sometimes they might say ‘Find a fairy song for here’. I find inspiration everywhere, from the charts to old time musical hall songs. But I might need to cut them, change the tempo or rewrite the lyrics for it to work for us. Once we know the songs, I write the band parts and produce rehearsal tracks for the cast to practice too.”
Seven months to go - it’s April and the casting starts.
Getting the right chemistry on stage is all important, so casting starts early, as Neil explained: “We’ve a huge amount of acting talent in the North East and we’re always keen to use local actors. We loved Paul Dunn as an Ugly Sister last year so he’s back as Dame Trott, and Sally Collett will play Fairy Moonflower. As well as these familiar faces, we have some new actors. Jamie Brown stars as hero Jack and Sarah Boulter is our feisty Princess.”
Three months to go
- it’s full throttle with sets and costumes.
Andy Stephenson, the show’s designer, has spent the summer finalising designs for costumes and sets which a local set production company will create. 10
Peak behind the curtain at the panto