Our five-star panto Robin Hood was nominated for four UK Pantomime Awards!
Blog by Linzi Tate, Head of Marketing & CommunicationsOff I went to London (not an activity I like to participate in regularly as a born and bred Yorkshire lass) to The Pantomime Awards at Trafalgar Theatre, usually home to the Jersey Boys. Not tonight though, tonight it was full of the great and the good from the magical world of pantomime.
There were dames, comics and fairies every which way you looked. Christopher Biggins was our host for the night, and he most certainly was not the most camp person in the room (oh yes he was).
I was sat on the fourth row, in between our wonderful co-producers Ben and Will from the Big Tiny, and our not so bad baddie Lawrence Stubbings. Last time I saw Larry he was riding a pantomime horse dressed as the Sheriff of Nottingham, so it was quite a novelty to see him in a suit, without his characteristic eyeliner. There were eight of us there from the Lawrence Batley Theatre pantomime team, eagerly awaiting the announcement of the awards. We’d been nominated in four categories, Best Script for Ben Richards, Best Director for Ben Richards again (jeez Ben, stop being so talented), Best Early Career Newcomer for Becca Lee-Issacs and Best Pantomime for our size venue.
Christopher Biggins, the president of the UK Pantomime Association, reminded us at the top that even being nominated for these awards was a huge deal. The judges see over 200 professional pantomimes across the country. To put that into a bit of context, there are only 70 cities in the UK, pantomime is that popular. I’m a huge panto fan myself. Although I must confess, I haven’t always been. My drama training made me snobbish towards the artform, I was taught to think of it as something theatres put on every Christmas to make the books balance. But then, I started working on them. At Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds I saw first-hand the incredible commitment from the creative teams, the backstage crew and the cast to put on the very best show they possibly can. I began to think of it as a chance to fully show off what a theatre can do. The lighting, the sound effects, the music, the singing, incredible sets covered in literal tons of glitter and of course the pyrotechnics!
Then I went to Harrogate Theatre, where pantomime is treasured by the whole company as a child’s first introduction to theatre. And I was absolutely intoxicated with the strong feeling that this artform gave us the chance to change the preconceptions of theatre, to make it popular, to make it loved by everyone. And through the careful guidance of my late friend, writer and director Phil Lowe, we worked on the show in house year-round with some truly fabulous creatives.
When I moved to Huddersfield in the latter part of last year, I was sad to see how much covid had wrenched away our audiences, the houses weren’t as full as they were pre-pandemic. But that didn’t stop us. We were all so thrilled to be back, to get the chance to show off our craft in the biggest loudest campest form of theatre there is. And we were determined to do Huddersfield proud.
Anyway, I digress, there we were, eagerly awaiting the judges’ results. The awards calling started off with the Best Ugly Sisters and the hilarious duo Duncan Burt & Nic Gibney from Theatre Royal Bath graced the stage, setting the bar high for comedic acceptance speeches. And there were plenty to be had in a room full of comics and dames and those who love them.
The night went on, punctuated by performances from Butlins and Myra Dubois. We cheered louder than anyone when Becca got called up to stage, she was in such shock that she won and got a kiss on the cheek from Christopher Biggins that I’m not too sure if she’s come off cloud 9 yet, and you know what, our own Yorkshire star thoroughly deserves to be up there.
On we went to the after party, and it was something else. We all rushed next door, to be greeted with free fizz and a crowded room, full of all those fabulous panto people. We hung out by the branded backdrop looking cool in all our finery and taking selfies. We toasted Becca multiple times through the night and had a great time catching up with all our friends from across the world of pantomime. About half past twelve, I slunk off to my cosy hotel room to tell the world of social media just how the night went. I thought why not post my first Instagram reel to our Lawrence Batley Theatre account. I did it, and it appeared upside down. Apparently, it was not the best time to try out a new thing. And so with that I called it a night.
Waking up today I feel overwhelmed by how special it was to enjoy an event like last night. It feels as if we are emerging from the shadow of lockdowns into a new more joyous era, where we take entertainment seriously. To paraphrase a wonderful director from last night - what we do might not be life or death, but what we do makes life worth living.
Our next pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk is on sale now, running from Fri 2 December to Sat 31 December. Book online or call 01484 430528.