By Mungo Beaumont, producer
Oh yes, it is! Oh no, it’s not! OK, promise, the worst of the panto jokes are behind me…
I love this time of year. Pigs in blankets beckon, Christmas jumpers are finally acceptable to wear and pantomime rehearsals have begun. Now we know we’re on our way.
It’s our sixth annual, affordable pantomime at Fruit, and writer Tom Wells has dished out another delight with Cinderella. What’s more, the show will mark our final contribution to Hull UK City of Culture 2017. It has all gone by in a whirlwind, hasn’t it?
With so many different types of cultural offerings throughout the year it’s nice to finish on something that feels so familiar – and important. Pantomime is often a person’s first introduction to theatre, so we take it incredibly seriously, underneath all the custard pies.
For the past three years we’ve tried our best to spread the Christmas cheer by giving away free tickets to local community groups in Hull. In 2016, groups from The Warren, Hull Help for Refugees, Hull Homeless and the Butterfly Memory Support group all came along and we’re hoping to do the same this year via our annual crowd funder. If you feel like you have a few pennies to share, please do back our campaign – we’ll love you forever.
Whilst it’s important to remember that Hull will continue to be the City of Culture until 2020 and a city of culture for evermore, it’ll be nice to get to Christmas and look back on what has so far been an incredible journey, for all of us. But then, if you REALLY want to see an incredible journey, you should probably be checking out our attempts to turn a pumpkin into a carriage!
See you at the ball.
