The Marlowe Theatre In Canterbury Streams Pantomime For Free

The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury has announced a special Christmas gift, as it streams its pantomime for free.

Nurse Nellie Saves Panto will be streamed, free-of-charge, between Wednesday 23 December (from 12pm) and Sunday 3 January, giving everyone the chance to enjoy the production at home.

The announcement comes in response to Kent's move into Tier 4 and the news that UK lockdowns are likely to stay in place well into the new year. It means that audiences can still enjoy seeing a pantomime over Christmas, at a time when festive plans for many families are in disarray.

There will also be a special watch-along event taking place on Christmas eve on Twitter at 2pm when audiences, following the hashtag #marlowepanto, can join in the experience together and take part in a communal boo and hiss and a collective shout of "he's behind you." Members of the cast will also be taking part.

Filmed on Sunday 13th December in front of a small audience of staff, the original plan was to stream the show to care homes and shielding households. Over 1,400 residents and their carers, in over 90 care homes across Kent and the South East, will be making the streamed pantomime a major part of their Christmas.

Deborah Shaw, Chief Executive of The Marlowe Theatre said:

"Now that audiences can't come out to see Nurse Nellie, we're thrilled to be able to beam her into everyone's living room instead. We hope that everyone enjoys the show and that it brings some much-needed cheer after what has been such a challenging year. It's a real fun-packed gem, full of familiar gags and routines, designed to tide us over until next year's full-scale Jack and the Beanstalk. We've also got a host of brilliant shows lined up for next year and we look forward very much to welcoming audiences back."

Co-produced with Evolution Productions, The Marlowe's pantomime is one of the most successful in the country and is normally seen by over 90,000 people a year.

Paul Hendy, writer, director and producer of Evolution Productions said:

"Christmas certainly wouldn't be Christmas without The Marlowe's pantomime. As you can imagine we were very disappointed when, at the last moment, we realised that audiences were not going to be able to experience Nurse Nellie Saves Panto live. However, we are thrilled to be streaming the show and we hope that audiences will watch it as a family and react as if they were in our theatre. We want cheering, booing and most importantly laughter because I think laughter is what we need more than anything this year."

Telling the story of what happens when a baddie attempts to steal the joy of pantomime, Nurse Nellie Saves Panto features plenty of classic Marlowe pantomime moments, some great musical numbers and (of course) the legendary ghost gag bench.

The production stars much-loved Marlowe pantomime legend Ben Roddy, who has played the Dame in The Marlowe's pantomimes for the last eleven years. As well as performing at The Marlowe, Ben has recently appeared at the Swan Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon) for the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Provoked Wife and Venice Preserved.

The role of Fairy Moonshot is played by Chanice Alexander-Burnett, who has performed in a number of top West End shows including Motown The Musical, The Book Of Mormon and Beautiful: The Carole King Story. Cara Dudgeon, who was recently nominated as Best Female at The Great British Pantomime Awards and has performed in a number of top musical tours, will be playing the role of Jill.

Kent comedian Lloyd Hollett returns in the role of Billy, marking his 10th appearance in a Marlowe pantomime. Lloyd has performed for audiences all around the world and also writes comedy scripts for Stephen Mulhern.

Every pantomime needs an evil-doer and children's TV favourite, Ian Kirby, promises to unleash a dastardly plan to bring down pantomime in the role of The Baddie. Ian is known to TV fans for his appearances as various different characters in Dick & Dom In Da Bungalow, The Legend Of Dick And Dom, Diddy Movies, Hoopla and most recently, Diddy TV.

To access the free stream of Nurse Nellie Saves Panto, audiences can visit the What's On page of The Marlowe's website to book a ticket. Versions with captions, sign-language interpretation and audio description are also available.

Tickets are free, but donations can be made to The Marlowe's Love Your Theatre fundraising campaign, to help the venue recover from the impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

Audiences who have tickets booked for the production will be contacted by the theatre team over the next few days to arrange a credit note or refund.

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