Pantomimes at the Lion
Horncastle Theatre Company has put on a pantomime (almost) every year since it started, indeed the company started out with a panto! The exception was in 2020 when pandemic restrictions meant that we could not put one on. It is an annual outing for many of Horncastle’s families and tickets for the matinees tend to sell out straight away, despite an extra one having been scheduled in the past few years!
You may not know some of the unique elements that make up our pantos, as opposed to many other companies. Our pantomimes are always written in house, for many years this was by a small group, however recently more company members have been encouraged to submit a script. Our pantomimes are chosen in the summer, after several months of submissions being read out loud one by one by the company. Company members then discuss the things they like and areas for improvement and often the writer will go away and tweak the script accordingly, either to submit it the following year or if the edits are small, they will put it forward to the company for a secret vote at the Company Summer Business Meeting. A good script can take a year or more to write and polish. We have on occasion re-run scripts from previous years, although we find they often need some editing and or re-writing to make them acceptable to a modern audience!
Our pantos always have a Horncastle specific angle, within the setting or references to villages, local businesses or well known town folk. The company bulk purchased fake pigeons for a production that was cancelled due to the pandemic, since then pigeons have become an in joke for the set builders and have appeared in sets and panto scripts since then, next time you are in the theatre for a show see if you can spot one! Another tradition is that the line “Oh what a horrid, horrid day” ALWAYS has and ALWAYS will appear in our pantomime. Generally, it was the Principal Girl who cried it, whilst being abducted by the villain, although in recent years this has changed and sometimes it’s the villain who is thwarted and shouts it. There are other ‘Easter Eggs’ regular goers may notice, regular jokes or gags and we have a very specific manner of counting things to five!
Our panto doesn’t take up the modern pre-Christmas slot, it has always been at the end of January. This allows for our volunteer cast and team to have some time to spend with their families and means that we are not competing for audiences against big professional productions. At only £10 a seat, it provides a bright point in the post Christmas winter gloom and only once have we had to cancel a performance due to snow. If you haven’t been we can promise that our pantomimes punch above their weight, in acting, set and special effects, giving professional productions a run for their money. Tickets sell fast though, be warned!