What Does a Pantomime Production Company Do All Year?
/For audiences, pantomime often begins when the theatre lights go down and the curtain rises at Christmas.
But for a pantomime production company, the work never really stops.
Creating professional pantomime involves far more than rehearsing a show in November and performing it in December. Planning, casting, writing, designing, building, maintaining, marketing and producing pantomime takes place throughout the year.
At Imagine Theatre, we produce and co-produce professional pantomimes in partnership with theatres and venue operators across the UK. Alongside our own productions, our teams manage an extensive collection of pantomime sets, costumes and props, many of which are also hired to other theatres and production companies.
So what actually happens inside a pantomime production company when it isn't Christmas?
The answer is: quite a lot.
January: The season isn't over yet
While Christmas decorations may be coming down, some pantomimes are still performing into January.
At the same time, productions that have finished begin the huge process of getting out of theatres.
Sets, costumes, props, technical equipment and special effects have to be carefully packed, transported and returned. Hired production resources also begin arriving back from theatres around the country.
Every item then has to be checked before it returns to storage.
Meanwhile, the producing team begins reviewing the season that has just taken place.
What worked?
What could be improved?
What did audiences respond to?
What did our theatre partners learn?
And before long, conversations about the next Christmas season are already under way.
February: Reset, repair and start again
February is an important reset month.
Costumes return to wardrobe to be cleaned, repaired and maintained.
Sets and props return to the stores, where individual pieces can be inspected, photographed, measured, catalogued and prepared for their next use.
In our 2023 behind-the-scenes series, for example, we recorded scenery being entered into our central system with individual barcodes, photographs and measurements so that our stores team could manage thousands of scenic elements effectively.
But while one season is being packed away, the next is already gathering pace.
Venue debriefs are taking place.
Budgets are being developed.
Casting is beginning.
Creative discussions are under way.
Pantomime really is a year-round business.
March: Casting, planning and creative development
By spring, attention is firmly turning towards the next season.
Casting a large portfolio of pantomimes is a complex process. Different productions need different combinations of performers, from experienced pantomime Dames and Comics to principal performers, character actors, singers, dancers and ensemble members.
At the same time, creative teams begin developing individual productions.
Scripts evolve.
Designs are reviewed.
Ideas for sets, costumes, special effects and staging are discussed.
Venue partners and producers continue conversations about how each pantomime should work for its particular theatre and audience.
Want to know more about joining one of our productions? Read our Pantomime Casting guide.
April: Building the creative picture
As the year progresses, more pieces of the production puzzle begin falling into place.
Casting continues and more performers can be confirmed.
Scripts develop further.
Design requirements become clearer.
Marketing plans begin taking shape.
This is also a time when the previous season can be celebrated and recognised. In April 2023, for example, Imagine Theatre attended the UK Pantomime Association Awards, where Swansea's Beauty and the Beast won Best Production over 900 seats and Best Set Design.
Behind the scenes, however, the focus is already on what audiences will see the following Christmas.
May and June: From ideas to practical production
By late spring and early summer, creative ideas increasingly have to become practical plans.
What scenery needs building or adapting?
Which costumes need creating or altering?
What props are required?
Which existing production resources can be reused?
How will everything eventually travel to the venues in which it will be used?
Pantomime production combines creativity with detailed logistics.
A spectacular idea on paper still needs to work safely and effectively on a theatre stage, sometimes several hundred miles from where it was originally designed or built.
Reusing existing scenery, costumes and props also plays an important role in the way Imagine Theatre approaches production, reducing the need to create everything from scratch every season.
July: The countdown begins
By the summer, Christmas might still feel a long way away to audiences.
Inside a pantomime company, it doesn't.
Scripts are progressing.
Casting is being completed.
Technical requirements are becoming clearer.
Costume and scenic work continues.
Marketing campaigns are developing.
Venues are selling tickets and audiences are beginning to make their Christmas plans.
Teams across the business are now working towards the same immovable deadline:
opening night.
August: Costumes, photoshoots and marketing
August demonstrates just how many different teams are involved in creating a pantomime season.
Photoshoots take place so venues have the imagery they need for posters, websites, social media, programmes and marketing campaigns.
Our 2023 summer photoshoots give a sense of the scale involved. Across that year we recorded:
18 pantomimes photographed
90 cast members attending
4,773 photographs taken
22,050 miles travelled
Wardrobe teams prepared more than 40 costumes for one major period of photoshoots, while props teams ensured everything needed for the images was ready.
Junior ensemble auditions were also taking place, while our operations teams continued painting scenery and creating new scenic pieces.
Christmas hasn't arrived, but pantomime season is now becoming very real.
September: Production gathers pace
By September, departments across the company are moving increasingly quickly.
Scenery and props are being prepared.
Costumes are being fitted and altered.
Marketing assets are appearing.
Casting is largely taking shape.
Scripts move closer to their final versions.
Production schedules become increasingly important as multiple shows prepare to enter rehearsal within weeks of one another.
For a producer working across numerous venues, organisation becomes critical.
Every production has its own cast, theatre, schedule, creative team and requirements, while all of them are moving towards opening within a relatively short period.
October: Final preparations
By October, the season is accelerating rapidly.
The focus moves from planning towards delivery.
Final preparations are taking place across:
scenery
props
costumes
scripts
casting
music
choreography
technical requirements
transport
marketing
production management.
Soon, companies will begin arriving for rehearsals.
Warehouses need to prepare scenery and equipment for collection and transport.
Costumes need to be ready for performers.
Press and marketing activity increases.
Opening night is no longer months away. It is weeks away.
November: Rehearsals, lorries and controlled chaos
November is when virtually every part of the business comes together.
Actors rehearse.
Directors direct.
Choreographers choreograph.
Musical directors teach and arrange music.
Technicians prepare venues.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, sets, costumes, props and technical equipment travel across the country.
In November 2023, Imagine Theatre had four shows already open, 14 in rehearsal and a further four preparing to begin rehearsals.
The warehouse was loading multiple lorries each day with scenery, costumes, props and technical equipment for both Imagine productions and external hire customers.
Associate Producers were travelling around the UK attending rehearsals, producer runs and press nights.
And throughout the season, the team expected to process more than 2,500 rehearsal, chaperone and show reports, reading them and responding to requests for everything from additional props and costumes to music and scenic elements.
This is why producing a large pantomime season is as much an exercise in logistics and communication as it is in creativity.
December: It's showtime
And finally, the moment audiences have been waiting for arrives.
Across the country, curtains rise.
But this doesn't mean the production company's work is finished.
Far from it.
Once shows are running, producing teams continue supporting them throughout the season.
Performance and company reports need monitoring.
Problems have to be solved.
Replacement or additional costume and prop requirements might arise.
Marketing activity continues.
Press and social media teams capture the excitement of the season.
Theatres and producers monitor audience response and sales.
And somewhere, conversations about next year's pantomimes are already beginning.
Then it starts all over again
Once the final curtain comes down, sets, props, costumes and equipment begin their journeys back.
They are checked, cleaned, repaired and stored.
Teams debrief.
Budgets are reviewed.
New plans emerge.
And the cycle begins again.
That is one of the things people are often most surprised to discover about professional pantomime.
Pantomime isn't a Christmas business. It is a year-round theatre business that happens to reach its most visible moment at Christmas.
Why does producing pantomime take all year?
Modern professional pantomime brings together many different disciplines:
producing
writing
directing
casting
choreography
music
set design and construction
costume
props
special effects
technical production
logistics
marketing
ticket sales
company management
venue partnerships.
Each production is effectively its own major project.
Operating several productions simultaneously requires careful planning across the entire year so that everything arrives in the right theatre, with the right people, at the right time.
More than 25 years of producing pantomime
Imagine Theatre has produced more than 275 professional pantomimes over more than 25 years.
Over that time, the technology, performers, popular culture and expectations of audiences have changed enormously.
But the fundamental challenge remains remarkably similar.
Every Christmas, thousands of individual creative and practical decisions have to come together to create something that feels effortless when the curtain finally rises.
For audiences, it should simply feel like magic.
Behind the scenes, it takes an entire year to create it.
Want to go deeper behind the scenes? Discover how a professional pantomime goes from the first creative ideas to opening night in our guide, How a Pantomime Is Made.
Or travel back through centuries of theatrical tradition in our complete guide to the History of Pantomime.
