Saving panto: How we carried on through Covid

I’ve been playing the Comic in the annual pantomime at Coventry’s  Belgrade Theatre for 10 years now, so for me, the idea of Christmas without a panto season is unthinkable.  

At the start of lockdown, Christmas seemed a long way off, but sure enough, the Belgrade was eventually forced into an impossible decision. This would be my first Christmas in a decade without panto… or so I thought!

As soon as the news landed, I was straight on the phone to my friend Iain Lauchlan, who’s been writing, directing and playing Dame in Belgrade pantomimes for more than 20 years. We ran over ideas for what to do — other than just sitting at home crying into our Christmas pudding!  

Luckily, we had a secret weapon: Iain is a preschool TV producing legend, having created The Tweenies among other things, and runs a TV studio. So we hit on the idea of recording this year’s panto — with added TV magic — and streaming it online. Christmas was saved!

Rehearsals always start with a meet and greet, but this year’s was a swift affair: between us, Iain and I play most of the parts, and the rest of the company was made up of Belgrade favourites we’d dragged back to work with us!  

After two weeks of rehearsals, we were ready for our audience — except this time, there wasn’t one. It was tough. As any panto performer will tell you, the audience is like the final character in the show. We also had to adjust to having just one shot. Typically, jokes and adlibs change throughout the run, but not this time!  

Our final day of filming was the hardest. We shot the opening of the panto on the Belgrade stage, looking out into an eerily empty auditorium. It was at that point the enormity of it really sank in.  

But it’s not all bad news. For the first time in ages, I can enjoy an uninterrupted family Christmas, and I’m really looking forward to watching the show with my own little boy this year. That’s what Christmas is all about.  

Jack and the Beanstalk Online is available to stream via the Belgrade Theatre website from December 1-31.  

Tickets are available to book now at www.belgrade.co.uk.