Take one golden egg, a touch of Olivier Award-winning magic, a large helping of talented young performers and the expertise of a venue famous for its festive offerings. Mix it all together and you might just have the perfect recipe for a winning panto. Or at least that’s what we thought looking at these photos of goings-on at Hackney Empire.
Sharon D Clarke, winner of this year’s Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, is back at the theatre to lead its annual, now legendary, pantomime. This year the east London venue’s festive offering is the brilliantly silly Mother Goose, with much loved stage performer Clive Rowe in the title role.
While we’ll have to wait to see what colourful costumes and puntastic jokes are up their no doubt sequinned sleeves, photographer Robert Workman snuck into rehearsals to take a sneaky peek at what they’ve been up to as the cast prepare for their first performances this weekend. It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Theatreland…