Casting announced for Christmas Allsorts

It's a bit of a topsy turvy year for London's panto season - most productions have been cancelled or postponed, some shows have gone online and the National Theatre is actually presenting a panto - Dick Whittington - but only for this year!

Some of the larger theatres - like Queen's Theatre Hornchurch, Hackney Empire, the Lyric Hammersmith and Theatre Royal Stratford East - cancelled their 2020 pantos fairly early in the year.

That was hardly surprising, given the uncertainty all theatres were facing about their ability to stay open during the coronavirus outbreak.

Panto season is hugely important for many theatres since it usually provides them with a substantial injection of cash which can be used to support other productions during the rest of the year.

The loss of income from cancelling live pantos will likely have sizeable implications for many venues, even in spite of the financial support package provided by central government.

It's no wonder, then, that some enterprising venues have transferred their pantos online and some have come up with different, smaller-scale show formats designed to keep the sparkle of the festive season alive and to bring in some revenue in a very lean year.

The team at Queen's Theatre Hornchurch has opted for an alternative seasonal special in the guise of a traditional family variety show, wrapped up in tinsel, with a bit of everything we all love about yuletide.

Aimed at audiences of all ages (aged 8+) Christmas Allsorts will have a strictly limited run from 11 December to 3 January, with only 200 tickets available per performance in a socially distanced auditorium.

Artistic director, Douglas Rintoul, is responsible for devising the format and, as director, has just announced his cast which includes Lauryn Redding (The Worst Witch, Vaudeville Theatre); Sioned Saunders (Amélie, Watermill Theatre); Tom Self (The Hired Man, Hull Truck, Oldham Coliseum & Queen's Theatre Hornchurch); and Alex Tomkins (School of Rock, West End).

Mr Rintoul said ...

"The cast are amazingly talented actor-musicians coming from smash-hit shows and they're going to make Christmas Allsorts an absolutely unmissable family treat."

Show listing information