Panto is in danger ... Oh yes it is!
THE showman behind pantomimes around the country has warned that unless the Government is clearer about how theatres can reopen, the season will be cancelled. Michael Harrison, who controls his own production company and is co-owner of Qdos Entertainment (the UK’s biggest panto producers), said many regional theatres — including some in Greater London — depend on profits from their Xmas shows to sustain them throughout the year. ‘Many theatres receive no Government subsidy. Pantomime is their subsidy. But the clock is ticking and unless there is a clear road map as to how we can reopen safely and practically, I’m afraid the pantomime season as we know it will be cancelled,’ Harrison, who directed the spectacular pantos at the London Palladium, told me yesterday. Such a calamity would bring about ‘the loss of thousands of jobs — and millions of pounds to the treasury’. When I observed that, because of its popularity, panto is like our national theatre, he agreed. ‘To the masses, pantomime is the national theatre. Of course, the National Theatre itself is vitally important. But the other national theatre, as in the theatre that happens in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, the Hackney Empire, Wimbledon ... all the way around the country ... is pantomime,’ he insisted. It isn’t to be sneezed at. ‘The biggest arts talents in the land were all taken to a panto as kids,’ Harrison said. But the panto community needs clarity, so it can plan for December. ‘The Government’s keeping us in the dark and that’s not helpful. We need to have clear guidelines for the theatre industry now,’ he added. Ominously, he said that unless Government provides answers soon, ‘theatres just won’t be able to open for Christmas’.