Ayr Gaiety Will Perform 2025 Pantomime ALADDIE

Ayr Gaiety Theatre's 2025 pantomime, Aladdie - a Scottish spin on the traditional Aladdin story, rooted very much in Ayrshire - will feature a host of both new talent and returning favourites.

Following three years of 5-star reviewed productions and winning the inaugural CATS award for Outstanding Pantomime for 2024's Mother Goose, The Gaiety is delighted to welcome back writer Fraser Boyle for the sixth year in a row. He is joined by director Tom Cooper (The Glasgow Poisoner - A Play, a Pie and a Pint; Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard - A Play, a Pie and a Pint and tour), for his first Gaiety panto, to put their original spin on a beloved family favourite.

A former UK Pantomime Association ‘Best Dame' nominee, Fraser Boyle will also be reprising his role as Gaiety panto dame for the fourth year in a row as Widow Twankey in Aladdie, following star turns in Mother Goose, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella.

Joining Fraser on stage, are a stellar cast of Scottish performers with a diverse range of acting credits, including returning favourites Gavin Jon Wright as Abanazar (Make it Happen - NTS; Death of a Salesman - Raw Material/Trafalgar), Hannah Howie as Empress Oonagh (The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart - Royal Lyceum Theatre and US tour; Funeral for my Boobs - DRIVE (in development)), Lewis Kerr as Aladdie (Encore! - Cumbernauld Theatre; A Midsummer Night's Dream - Scottish Opera), and Ciara Flynn as Alassie (Maw Goose - Macrobert Arts Centre; Cinderella - Eastwood Park Theatre).

Gracing the Gaiety's stage for the first time are newcomers Mia Musakambeva as Princess Destiny (Wild Rose - Royal Lyceum Theatre; The Red Shoes - Royal Shakespeare Company), Ava Anderson as Vicky-Victoria (Cinderella - Eastwood Park Theatre), Christopher McFadden as Jimmy-James, and Carley Duncan as Betty-Liz - and Martin Murphy as Danny-Daniel (The BFG - Royal Lyceum Theatre; Snow White - King's Theatre Edinburgh & His Majesty's Theatre Aberdeen) who last graced the Gaiety stage in 2013 in the titular role of Aladdin! Full cast biographies, credits and headshots in the press kit here.

Fraser Boyle, Writer and Dame, commented: “It's a big adventure, Aladdie – I'm excited about the pace and speed that we inject into it. There's something in the finale that's going to take a lot of rehearsal, so I'm most looking forward to this musical number. It doesn't have singing in it, there's probably a thousand ways it could go wrong, so I'm looking forward to that. I won't say anything else other than...nuns!”

Tom Cooper, Director, said: “Aladdie is a fresh Scottish take on the traditional Aladdin story. We've assembled a really exciting cast to work with, and Fraser's script is beautiful – and genuinely hilarious. It's a real celebration of silliness and there's a warmth and generosity to it which I really love as well.”

Less the Far East, more the very, very far East of Ayrshire…

This year's panto is very much an Ayrshire special. Aladdie transports audiences to a land ruled by the Ancient McMinger Dynasty from their seat of power in Old New Cumnock Town. Our hero's in deep trouble he can't get out of alone, so thank goodness for family - and an Ayrshire family at that!

Will Aladdie ever win the hand of Princess Destiny? Will Abanazar rule the land as the greatest Magician the world has ever known? And will Widow Twankey ever manage to scrub the Royal Smalls to Empress Oonagh McMinger's most exacting standards? Magic, mayhem, mischief and even Maybole abound in this re-telling of an old tale – this isn't Aladdin, it's Aladdie!