'Oh yes it is'
Pantomime is a classic British tradition that thrives across the UK's theatres every Winter time. Which is a tradition that we within The Lowestoft Players - all love too! We've been performing Pantomimes since 1969 and have enjoyed 52 magical productions. From Cinderella to Dick Whittington and his Cat, we've performed them all and 2020 was no different.
Although everyone talks of what a British tradition Pantomime is, the original concept of Pantomime was developed in the 16th Century in Italy! In none other than the 'Commedia Dell'arte'.
In the last production we performed as a company before the covid-19 lockdown, our cast, crew and committee put on a spectacular production of Aladdin!
'Oh no you didn't'!
We most certainly did, over 9 performances Widow Twankey had 90 costume changes, Aladdin was said 486 times and there were 2160 lighting cues! Not to mention that Aladdin's flying carpet stunt weighed just under half a tonne, now it's a mystery to all how that carpet flew...
So how did it go you ask? Well, there were the baddies...
(Who always enters stage left of course - tradition!)
There were the goodies...
There was romance...
There was of course, song and dance!
There was laughter...
And as always - a Hero that saved the day!
We decide our Pantomimes up to 12 months ahead of performance and our Production teams spend 9 months preparing our spectacular productions! Our next stop is 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' in October, and don't worry, our Pantomime extravaganza will return in January 2021 with 'Beauty and the Beast'!
In the mean time, please stay safe and well.