ALADDIN Set for Mercury Theatre Colchester

Hop on your magic carpet and join Aladdin at the Mercury Theatre Colchester for the adventure of a lifetime this Christmas!

Panto favourites Ignatius Anthony, Laura Curnick, Tim Freeman, Sarah Moss, Simon Pontin and Dale Superville are back along with some new faces. Taking on the role of Aladdin will be Glenn Adamson. Glen's most recent role was in the national tour of Secret Love: The Doris Day Story. Making his Mercury Theatre dame debut will be Antony Stuart-Hicks. Gracie Lai and Colin Burnicle complete the cast.

Come with us to Old Peking where Aladdin dreams of marrying the beautiful Princess Jasmin and providing a better life for his mother, Widow Twanky, and brother, Wishee Washee. With the promise of an inheritance to make him as rich as a prince, the wicked magician Abanazer has tricked Aladdin into helping him find a magic lamp hidden in a secret cavern high in the hills. Aladdin soon finds himself trapped with only a battered old lamp for company. It's only when he rubs the scruffy lamp that his adventure really begins! Will Widow Twanky find romance? Will Wishee Washee prove his worth? Will Aladdin finally marry Princess Jasmin? All will be revealed at the Mercury Theatre!

Artistic Director of the Mercury Theatre Daniel Buckroyd, will not only direct this year's pantomime, he will also be teaming up with panto king Fine Time Fontayne to co-write the script..

Daniel said: I'm no stranger to writing and directing family shows, many of which have been adaptations of well known children's books, but directing Cinderella last year was my first taste of producing Panto, so I was very grateful to have Mercury favourite Fine Time Fontayne on hand to ensure the script was exactly what we needed it to be. We had such a good time collaborating we decided to team up to co-write the script for this year's show."

He added: "I think we have really complementary skills as a writing team - my focus is always on telling the story while Fine Time brings a wonderful sense of pantomime fun to proceedings and an encyclopaedic knowledge of traditional comedy routines and slapstick. And with pantomime, the songs are a vital part of the entertainment, so I've also been working closely with our wonderful Musical Director, Richard Reeday, to choose the tracks and 'adjust' the lyrics to fit our story. It's very much a team effort."

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