It’s panto time in Killorglin this Christmas
KILLORGLIN is a town with a strong tradition when it comes to staging brilliant pantomime and this year is no exception as a number of important milestones will be reached when Pinocchio is staged at the KCYMS Hall from Saturday 20th, Sunday 21st and Sunday 29th, while the night shows will run from Wednesday 24th to Saturday 27th at 8pm. There will also be a special performance at the INEC in Killarney on February 5th.
This is the 25th anniversary of the Killorglin Pantomime Group’s first staging of Pinocchio, and their 55th pantomime over all since the group was founded. There’s also a strong charity aspect to the pantomime as over €5,000 from last year’s show was given over to local charities.
Geraldine O’Sullivan is the PRO and she has been involved with the Killorglin Pantomime Group since 1979. She said the group have been busy rehearsing since early October with three rehearsals a week, while there is over 100 people involved in the show between onstage and back stage, so there is quite a lot of coordination involved. “It’s great fun and we now have people travelling from outside mid Kerry who want to be part of the show. Prior to this show it would have been very much a local affair but on our first night of rehearsals over 50% of the cast came from outside the town which is great to see,” said Geraldine.
It’s no surprise really that people want to be part of a tradition stretching back to 1958 when the Killorglin group staged its first panto.
“It’s tough going on cold winter nights heading out to rehearsals but the fun we have far outweighs the effort. It’s a great group and we’re proud of our history in bringing pantomimes to the people of Killorglin and mid Kerry for over half a century,” Geraldine added.