As the door closes on a hugely successful run of record-breaking pantomimes across the country from Imagine Theatre, we reflect on some of the highlights of the 2024/25 season.

• Over 600,000 tickets sold!
  
• This is the first year that we have created two brand-new digital sets in one season; Aladdin in High Wycombe (below) and Jack and the Beanstalk in Swansea, both receiving amazing feedback from critics and audiences.

• This season saw two productions taking place in temporary structures – which given the extra challenges this brings, saw two outstanding shows; Sleeping Beauty in Dartford (below) with Britain’s Got Talent winner Sydnie Christmas making her pantomime debut, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears in Kilmarnock which took place in the round, in a Circus tent.

• Our digital version of Cinderella was not only their most successful selling pantomime to date, it was the biggest production ever staged in the history of the Hexagon Theatre, Reading.
  
• Some of the Imagine team attended the UK Pantomime Association Accessibility Conference, on how to make pantomime more accessible for everyone, and as a result UKPA have created a best-practice document.

• This season we supported the Royal National Institute of Blind People, a UK charity that offers support and services to people who are blind or partially sighted. Working with Lisa George, our Fairy Godmother in Swindon who is partially sighted herself, to explore what it is like to perform in pantomime. Based on this work, we supplied audio described videos of costumes to multiple venues as part of the project.

And now, for some fun panto season facts!
21 pantos staged by Imagine
99 performances on 21st and 22nd December alone
267 panto performances watched by the Imagine head office team
974 performances in our 2024/25 Christmas season
1,623 show, venue and Imagine HQ staff involved
3,979 song sheet gifts handed out
4,830 shoes worn
6,260 pyro and sparkular firings
7,840 hours worked chaperoning children
13,402 scene changes completed
36,347 man hours of rehearsals undertaken
82,734 miles travelled by the Imagine HQ team to work on the shows (that’s 3.3 times around the world!)