Cinders panto packs them in

Cinderella has helped give Sheringham Little Theatre a happy ending to 2023 after the popular panto played to sell-out shows and drew praise from families who enjoyed the fun.
Theatre director Debbie Thompson said: “Many of the 40-plus shows were sold out. We had a dozen visiting schools and added two extra morning shows to cope with ticket demand.
“And we were delighted with the feedback we got from audiences who loved the comedy, the characters, the quality of the singing and dancing, along with the local and modern twists we put on
our shows – such as Prince Charming’s Netflix show this year.” For the first time, and responding to public demand, the theatre staged a “relaxed” performance for
neuro-diverse people without flashing lights, loud noises and with the house lights on all the time to make them feel more comfortable.

And once Cinders was over there was another new initiative with the staging of an adult panto Rubbin Good (Jan 12-14) which added cheeky humour and innuendo to the classic merry men
adventure, which Debbie said was also due to public demand following the success of drag variety nights at the venue. The show was performed by the cast of this year’s Robin Hood panto at Sheringham’s sister theatre, St George’s at Great Yarmouth – which will be the Little Theatre’s panto this coming year. The cast line-up includes Sheringham stage favourites such as Nick Earnshaw, Charlie Randall and Oliver Westlake.

During January, February and March local people are being asked to help the Little Theatre while they are out doing their shopping at Tesco.
In the coming weeks the theatre will launch new weekly musical teatime sessions, where youngsters aged six to 10 will be encouraged to perform, share their love of music and show off their talents.
It is one of the schemes in the upcoming Tesco Stronger Starts customer vote, and would give the venue £1500, £1000 or £500 towards funding the project, depending on how many people put their
tokens in its slot at the shops in stores at Sheringham or Mundesley.