CHRISTMAS IS NOT CANCELLED AS NORTH WALES BASED ACTRESS SAYS "OH NO IT ISN'T" WITH ON-LINE CELEBRITY FILLED PANTOMIME

An actress whose theatrical journey began with appearances on stage at venues in Wrexham, Mold and Chester has teamed up with a whole host of well-known celebrities to save a much-loved Christmas tradition by creating an online pantomime for people to watch from the comfort of their own homes.

Professional Actress Kate Salmon from Wrexham has teamed up with Anton Benson Productions for ‘Once Upon a Pantomime’ to keep the much Christmas tradition alive during the pandemic.

The show, directed by Kate features over 17 celebrities including Kerry Katona, Dave Benson-Phillips, Barney Heywood, Gareth Gates, ITV The Chase stars, Anne Hegarty and Mark Labbett and legendary Pantomime Dame, Phylip Harries who is well known for his appearances at Theatr Clwyd.

The performance, available to stream until 1st January was filmed at The Rhyl Pavilion where all of the actors were covid tested before rehearsals. The show's running time is an hour and a half and tickets for the virtual event are available for just £15 per view.

Kate whose theatre journey began with her involvement with local theatre companies including Tip Top Productions in numerous shows at venues including Theatr Clwyd, Chester Gateway Theatre and The Forum Studio Theatre has helped to organise the production of the online show. In November 2019, Kate directed ‘Justice: The Musical’ at The Lowry Theatre in Salford based on Netflix’s ‘Making a Murderer’ and has several professional shows to her name including many professional Panto appearances.

Speaking about the effect of the Pandemic on live theatre, Kate said "Theatre is not where it should be, in fact it has ceased in the past few months"

By September, knowing that a live performance was not going to happen, plans were quickly changed. "Don’t get me wrong the actual rehearsal week was utterly bonkers but we rehearsed it in 3 days and we filmed it in one day. Having booked it during lockdown, we were so lucky that Wales was open meaning we were able to film, it worked out perfectly. The project created over 30 new jobs for the crew and cast and because of the nature of the project, everybody was on board. Coronavirus threw a huge spanner in the works’ as the filming process was completely different to normal and face to face rehearsals had to be managed so we did zoom rehearsals prior to that.''

Kate added "Christmas is definitely not cancelled! we have tried to put on a really good show with the aim of keeping the great British panto tradition alive despite the challenges 2020 has thrown at us. We hope "Once Upon a Pantomime" will have something for all ages and above all, a little bit of Christmas magic, something we all need so badly, especially this year".

Full details of "Once Upon a Pantomime" can be found at  www.antonbensonproductions.com where tickets can be booked online.

Pictured - Poster for "Once Upon A Pantomime", an online Panto directed by and featuring local actress Kate Salmon (credit: Barney Heywood).