2009 Panto Preparations
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We thought you might like to see what goes on at our office and stores in preparation for panto.... At Imagine, panto is not just a Christmas job, it's our all year round day job! So check back for regular updates. We'll also be updating the specific panto show pages on the website with news too!
Please click on a thumbnail and a larger image will open up
We'll keep it in date order with the most recent photos at the top, so you really need to start at the bottom of this web page and work your way up to follow the process from start to finish!
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10th January 2010 - This year's interesting panto facts...
As the Imagine Theatre 2009/10 panto season draws to a close, here’s this year’s interesting panto facts
During the 2009 Imagine Panto Season…
Over 31,680 costume changes took place
Dawn and Karen in our wardrobe department prep’d over 5,000 costume pieces
Ian, Phil and the stores team have moved over 5,000 scenic pieces in and out of our stores
Deb and Sophie in our props department got through more than 500 glue gun glue sticks and seven very large rolls of bubble wrap!
We mixed 3,985 litres of slosh
There were nearly 3,250 pyros let off
There was over 1.5 km of text written on the show reports
We obtained over 200 licenses for children to perform on stage
This year the Imagine team watched 112 pantomimes
And over 203,000 people watched an Imagine Theatre panto
Thank you so much to all the casts, crew, venue staff, audiences and anyone who has helped us in any way for this pantomime season. We couldn't have done it without you and we are forever grateful.
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17th November 2009 - An interview with Iain Lauchlan
Click Here to catch a quick interview with Iain Lauchlan, director of this year's Belgrade Theatre, Coventry panto via you tube
Video courtesy of the Belgrade Theatre
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12th November 2009 - Christmas Party Day (and 1st day of rehearsals in Kilmarnock!!)
Today was the 1st day of rehearsals in Kilmarnock - we can't believe how fast that's come round!
Ok, so it's still November, but having a christmas party now isn't as daft as it seems. On Monday 16th, three head office staff (Steve, Hayley and Chris) head off to Panto Land - Steve goes to Crewe then Halifax to direct both shows, and Hayley and Chris head to Loughborough.
Then Phil and Ian will spend almost all their time from now until mid December in our stores in Redditch, leaving Sarah, Lou and Ray to man the fort in the office.
So to give everyone a good send off and to wish them all good luck for the season, we had our Christmas party... on 12th November!
Santa brought silly presents for everyone too! we've uploaded loads more photos onto our facebook page and if you click here you can find the photos. otherwise, here's some to be going on with. As always, click on the thumbnail to bring up a larger image!
  
'Cracker' Tug of war Party Poppers PRESENTS!
  
Iain's Rubber Band Gun! Steve's Rubber Chicken Chucker Turning the tree lights on!
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30th October 2009 - our busiest day yet?
In the offices (15 in total today!) - Steve , Sarah, Louise and Ray in the offices, Phil, Ian and Chris on stores and technicals, Debbie and Sophie on props, Dawn and Karen on Wardrobe, David Thomas is in from Crewe, Rob Marsden and Simon Butcher in from Porthcawl, and Jess our cleaner is in too!
Click on the thumbnails for larger images
 
Our props team at work - Debbie makes a pram, while Sophie makes a slosh gun
  
We dressed Louise up as a suit of armour (don't ask why!) and then the phone rang so we couldn't resist taking a photograph of her!!
The new 'finale walkdown' dress arrived for Crewe this morning so we dressed Phil up in it - and then embarrased him by taking a team photo surrounding him!!
And Chris was very excited today when his mains operated 'flame effects' arrived which will form the basis of the fire in the kitchen for Halifax
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26th October 2009 - Prep, prep and more prep!
It's that time of year when you wonder why on earth you thought working in he pantomime industry was a good idea! There's 2 weeks to go until our first show goes into rehearsal (which is the Belgrade, Coventry), and then another 5 go into rehearsal in 3 weeks time...) and that means deadlines are looming, or upon us. The office is working flat out and at full steam ahead... which means all the desks are full, and we're running out of mugs for the tea again...
- Ian and Phil are prepping all the sets in our Redditch stores either for our own productions or for our hires. This year just 3 of our 28 sets will remain un-hired, so it will also be a great opportunity for us to clean and paint the whole unit while everything is out.
- Chris is in the Coventry offices working on the panto technicals, which means lighting hires, sound hires, pyros etc etc etc.
- Dawn and Karen are beavering away in York preparing the thousands of costumes which are due out this year. They've also been at every one of our panto launches this year, fitting costumes, meeting cast and generally making everyone look magnificent.
- Louise and Hayley have been working on kids licensing. The postal strikes have proved challenging this year when trying to get all the relevant paperwork in for the babes, but they're really getting there and soem of the first licenses are through already.
- Ray is working on seven different panto programmes and all the company accounts
- Sarah has had flu for the last week and so is only just back on her feet again... but when she's back, she'll be working on health and safety on the shows, as well as working with the venue marketing teams on sales.
- Steve and Iain Lauchlan are busying finalising the creatives on all the shows. Scripts are done, music is done and its now all the final touches that will make everything flow so well... we hope!
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10th October 2009 - Busy times!
Sorry we've not update this page for a while - we've been kind of busy!
During September we held babes auditions every weekend, and are proud to say we have some outstanding young talent on show in our productions this year. Louise and Hayley are now beavering away working on sorting all the performance licenses to allow all the babes to perform on stage.
Steve and Iain L are finalising scripts, sets, props lists, special effects, casting and crew for all the shows. They've had alot of production meetings with various theatres, and have several more planned over the next 10 days.
Phil is working hard in the stores prepping the sets, and Deb and Leigh are working on all the props and additional carpentry for the shows. Ian and Chris are due back from their trip to Hong Kong with the Tweenies tour soon, so Ian will soon join Phil on sets etc and Chris takes over technical logistics for all the shows
Dawn and Karen are hard at work up in our costume stores in York, prepping for all the pantos and the additional panto photo shoots that are taking place at the moment.
Sarah's working on accounts, logistics planning to allow the back office support to run smoothly behind the scenes, and unfortunately Ray's had a little accident and bumped her head so she's been off for a little while - but she's back Monday, thank goodness!
Cup of tea, and a chocolate hob nob, anyone? I think we need a tea break! ;O)
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11th September 2009 - Production meetings and parties
We nearly had one of our 'have we got enough mugs in the office' type crisies today! There were 11 of us in the office, and we own 14 mugs, three of which have gone AWOL somewhere around the building, so panic was beginning to ensue when Louise came up trumps - with Happy Birthday cups and plates for the surprise party thrown for Sarah, Phil and Ian's birthdays!
The office was so busy because Rob Marsden (Director, Porthcawl), Matt Loughran (Musical Director, Porthcawl) and Simon Butcher (Lighting, Porthcawl) had all come in for the production meeting for the panto. Add in Steve Boden (Exec Producer, Imagine), Iain Lauchlan (Creatives), Ian Plimbley (Production Manager for the show), Chris Ball (sound and technicals) and Phil Roe (Stores) and it was a busy but VERY productive meeting!
Hayley was also in helping Louise with all the babes licensing that's going on at the moment. It's unbelieveable how much paperwork is involved in licensing the babes to get them on stage. Louise is on her 6th ream of paper already, and that's only for 4 pantos... we've another 3 sets of auditions still to go. We did have dreams of a paperless office once upon a time, but alas, it's just not physically possible...
L-R Hayley (Admin), Steve (Exec Producer), Chris (Technicals), Louise (PRoduction Assistant), Phil (Stores), Iain (Creatives), Rob (Director - Porthcawl), Ian (Stores), Simon (Lighting - Porthcawl), Matt (Musical Director - Porthcawl), Sarah (Business Mgr).
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7th September 2009 - Behind the scenes in the Imagine offices (click on thumbnails)
L-R - Phil (Stores Assistant), Ian (Stores Manager), Sarah's plate (Business Manager - Sarah, not the plate, obviously!), Chris (Technicals), Louise (Production Assistant) and Steve (Executive Producer). Don't say we don't lunch in style at Imagine - Chilli, beans, tortillas and cheese on toast was the order of todays lunch - we always try and have lunch together for a break and a good catch up on the gossip! ... And while we ate, we realised that the six of us had a combined age of 184! Answers on a postcard to guess the breakdown of who is what age!
  
Steve, Chris and Sarah are busy with panto prep - Steve's sorting casting contracts, Chris is sorting sound equipment and Sarah's doing the accounts!
 
Louise is managing the babes auditions paperwork and Ian and Phil are in the stores sorting sets (this one's Aladdin to go into the Shaw Theatre, London)
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4th September 2009 - The team is up to full strength...
It's been a busy week in the Imagine Offices. As we've now hit 1st September, the team has ramped up to full strength. Ian, Chris and Phil have joined us this week in the technical team, fresh from a year long BBC WW tour of Tweenies. So the team is now
Steve B - Executive Producer
Sarah B - Business Manager
Iain L - Creative Director
Louise R - Production Assistant
Ray M - Production Secretary
Ian P - Stores Manager
Phil R - Stores Assistant
Chris B - Technical Manager
Dawn O - Wardrobe Manager
And very shortly we'll be joined by Debbie sorting all our props.
As well as the office team, we have a fantastic team of production managers, directors, musical directors and choreographers planning behind the scenes. It's going to be a busy season, but we're really looking forward to it!
In preparation for the season, Chris and Sarah have a sort out in the office
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14th August 2009 - Beauty and the Beast music planning meeting
It's August and so that means it's panto planning time for Imagine!
And today is no exception. It's the music planning meeting for Beauty and the Beast. As we're doing three productions across the UK (Coventry, Loughborough and Porthcawl), the directors (well, nearly all) and musical directors have all come together in the Imagine offices to plan the musical numbers, stings, incidentals etc for the productions.
Some of the shows will feature original score, along side covers, but all will be musically completely different and unique.
Rob (Director, Porthcawl), Matt (MD, Porthcawl and musical tutor at Loughborough), Steve E (MD Coventry & click tracks Lboro & Porthcawl), Neil (Director, Loughborough) and Steve B (Imagine Exec Producer) are all busy working away, and loud music is eminating from their meeting room! Iain Lauchlan is still up in Scotland and so can't be with us.
In true Imagine style, they've got cups of tea and a MASSIVE packet of Jammy Dodgers, so we know they'll come up with some cracking ideas!
L-R (click on thumbnail) - Steve Etherington (Coventry MD and Loughborough and Porthcawl click tracks), Rob Marsden (Porthcawl Director), Ray Morrison (Imagine Production Secretary) Matt Loughran (Loughborough music tuition and Porthcawl MD), Neil Bull (Loughborough Director) and Steve Boden (Imagine Executive Producer)
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12th June 2009 - What have we been up to recently?
It's been a busy couple of months for the Imagine team since we renamed from WISH Theatre. Here's a quick low down of what we've been up to
- We've been up to Halifax to meet all the venue staff and to brief them on the panto. It was a lovely day!
- Steve, Iain and Louise have been up to Edinburgh to carry out auditions for our Scottish pantos (updates on our panto pages and more news to follow soon...)
- Iain has been to Inverness for some initial press interviews and photos
- We've been working on our star names casting (see our individual panto pages for info)
- Steve, Neil Bull and Iain have been working on the planning of the panto at Loughborough Town Hall
- Sarah has been over to Porthcawl to meet with the team and to get some press shots of Tony Wright
- Iain and Steve have been working with the set design and build teams at the Belgrade on Sarah Burton's stunning designs for their new panto set
- Jane and David from the Lyceum at Crewe have been over to our offices, working on the panto plans. David and Steve have been working on the technicals of the show.
- The 2009 Tweenies tour (which we are general managing on behalf of BBC WW) is up and running and we're nearly half way through the 45 venue tour!
And rehearsals start in less than five months time...... oh heck!
The Imagine Team during our visit to the Victoria Theatre, Halifax
Back L-R - Iain Lauchlan (Creatives), Steve Boden (Managing Director) & Ian Plimbley (Stores Manager)
Front L-R - Sarah Boden (Business Manager), Dawn Outhwaite (Wardrobe) & Louise Redmond (Production Assistant)
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31st March 2009 - WISH becomes Imagine Theatre Ltd!
In an exciting development in our history, WISH has been renamed Imagine Theatre. More details can be found on the press page - same people, same company registration number with companies house, same trading history, same VAT number etc etc.... just a new name.... IMAGINE the possibilities!
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27th February 2009 - WISH becomes a stable block???
We've been tidying out parts of our stores today so take a look at what the front of our unit looked like today!! Anyone would think we run stables, not a pantomime production company! ;o)
 
These are our articulated horse and carriages - there are three of our seven different carriages here.
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19th February, 2009
We're 1 month post the closure of the 2008 panto season, so what's been happening at WISH recently?
- Steve and Sarah visited Andy and Carol at the Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock on Friday 13th Feb to have a post production meeting on Mother Goose and to start planning Sleeping Beauty
- In January, Iain, Steve and Ian went to the Belgrade to have a post produciton meeting on Dick Whittington and to commence planning Beauty and the Beast
- Nigel, Kevin, Libby and Robin from Loughborough Town Hall came over on Friday 6th Feb to have a post production meeting on Aladdin and to commence planning Beauty and the Beast
- Mark and Ceri from the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl came over on Monday 16th Feb to have a post production meeting on Aladdin and to commence planning Beauty and the Beast
- Jane and David from the Lyceum Theatre, Crewe are heading over next week for a post production meeting on Jack and the Beanstalk and to commence planning Sleeping Beauty.
- The set, special effects and costume hires are starting to be firmed up for the 2009/10 season and we're rapidly running out of sets! It's such a busy season lined up and Cinderella is currently proving a favourite title across the board!
- Casting is slowly commencing! We have a massive list of parts available, and are at present jiggling with names and ideas of who for what part...
- We're getting ready to open the UK wide BBC WW tour of 'Tweenies, Top of the Tots' - WISH are general managers for the BBC WW tour for the third year, and this year the schedule is more hectic than ever.
- And we're absolutely delighted to be able to add the 'Victoria Theatre, Halifax' to our list of pantomime productions for 2009/10! We'll be producing Cinderella for them...
Who said panto was just for Christmas?? :O)
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11th January 2009 - The 2008/9 season is over... on with the next season!
Well, the final WISH pantomime of the 2008/9 season has just closed, and you'd think we're having a break, but no. Post production meetings on all our 2008 pantos take place within the next 2-3 weeks and from there we commence the planning and work on the 2009/10 season with avengance.
We already know what sets we are using in each venue, what the basic script is, what costumes we plan to use, and what special effects will be involved. Some will come from our vast stores while others need to be designed and made during the year.
At the WISH offices, we've already been inundated with set hire requests for the season, so the over the next couple of months we'll start firming those up and having production meetings and planning meetings with our hirers. It's a never ending world of panto at WISH!!
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