Panto season is in full swing… Oh yes it is! And our award-winning pantomime producer Imagine Theatre are presenting their biggest season yet, with nineteen magical family pantomimes and three Christmas shows at theatres across England, Scotland and Wales this festive season.

This year sees Scott Mills make his panto debut at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall as stars including AJ and Curtis Pritchard, Antony Costa, Carley Stenson, Divina De Campo, Jarred Christmas, Joe McFadden, Jon Clegg, JP McCue, Justin Fletcher, La Voix, Mark Read, Mark Rhodes, Matt Terry, Mina Anwar, Nathan Connor, Paul Burling, Sam Bailey and Suzanne Shaw promise to make this a season to remember. They are supported by over 500 additional cast including some of the best dames and comics in the business and over 400 local children who attended open auditions to be part of the panto magic.

This season the curtain rises over 1000 times on pantomimes including Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, The Little Mermaid and Treasure Island.

Imagine will visit Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre, Crewe Lyceum, Glasgow Pavilion, The Victoria Theatre in Halifax, Hastings White Rock Theatre, Hayes Beck Theatre, Eden Court in Inverness, The Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock, The Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkaldy The Royal Spa Centre in Leamington, De Montfort Hall in Leicester, Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Porthcawl’s Grand Pavilion, The Hexagon in Reading, Rotherham Civic Theatre, the Gatehouse Theatre in Stafford, Swansea Grand, Wycombe Swan and The Wyvern Theatre Swindon.

In addition to panto Imagine are producing two festive shows for pre-school children, Santa’s on His Sleigh for G-Live in Guildford and touring Santa’s Sparkly Surprise.

Last year saw Imagine breaking box office records at many venues, whilst being nominated for twelve UK Pantomime Association’s Awards, winning in three categories including Best Set Design (Mark Walters/Nina Dunn/ Matt Brown for Beauty and the Beast, Swansea Grand) with Vernon Kay picking up Best Newcomer to Pantomime in Cinderella at Wycombe Swan, whilst also taking home the coveted Best Pantomime (over 900 seats) Award again for Beauty and the Beast at Swansea Grand.

Imagine, who are proud to be a carbon neutral business and to be part of the Trafalgar Entertainment Group, are once again presenting two ground-breaking digital sets where the state-of-the-art technology creates a magical and enchanting theatrical experience.

Steve Boden, Managing Director at Imagine says: “Each year our pantomimes get bigger and better. This year we are excited to add Glasgow Pavilion to our growing list of venues and to be revisiting some of our favourite theatres in the country. We’ve been having a lot of fun working through brand new scripts and bringing together some of our favourite panto land faces along with some amazing celebrities to create the best season yet! ”