Philip Bernays explains how the Theatre Royal in Newcastle is breaking pantomime box office records whilst preparing for the loss of £650,000 City Council funding from April next year.
A Basil Fawlty lookalike is lugging a monster suitcase through the stage door and small dancing girls are spilling out of a rehearsal room so packed it’s a wonder any of them can shake a leg. Welcome to Monday afternoon at the Theatre Royal, a place so noisily teeming that chief executive Philip Bernays can’t even reach his office.
These are supposed to be tough times in the arts with money tight for theatres and theatre-goers. In the North East austerity and 100% funding cuts have made headlines. But this venue has been spewing out stories about box office triumphs as if we’re in boom time.
This year’s panto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, has broken the ticket-shifting record – as have its nine predecessors – and it is being hailed as the fastest-selling in the theatre’s 177-year history.
So crazy is panto fever here that priority booking for next year’s panto, Dick Whittington, actually began November 18 with tickets going on general sale on November 25... Keep reading on The Journal
A Basil Fawlty lookalike is lugging a monster suitcase through the stage door and small dancing girls are spilling out of a rehearsal room so packed it’s a wonder any of them can shake a leg. Welcome to Monday afternoon at the Theatre Royal, a place so noisily teeming that chief executive Philip Bernays can’t even reach his office.
These are supposed to be tough times in the arts with money tight for theatres and theatre-goers. In the North East austerity and 100% funding cuts have made headlines. But this venue has been spewing out stories about box office triumphs as if we’re in boom time.
This year’s panto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, has broken the ticket-shifting record – as have its nine predecessors – and it is being hailed as the fastest-selling in the theatre’s 177-year history.
So crazy is panto fever here that priority booking for next year’s panto, Dick Whittington, actually began November 18 with tickets going on general sale on November 25... Keep reading on The Journal