All the magic of panto is the promise on Bognor Regis pier this Christmas

Panto on the Pier will be precisely that – pantomime on the pier, Venue 24, the business name of the Grade 2 Listed historic building that dates back to 1865.

The debut show will be Cinderella which will run from December 24-January 1 with tickets available on www.tickettailor.com/events/venue24/1680020. It comes complete with a cast including Riley Clark and Lloyd Bagley as the Ugly Sisters, Vicky Edwards as Fairy Bognoria, Tom Uren as Prince ‘Hotty’ Hotham, Lily Barkes as Cinderella, Mark Flynn as Buttons and Milena Ruiz-Harrison as Big H the Herald.

“Last year I came and visited the venue and the team here,” Katie said, “and they were very interested in putting on some family events. We floated the idea of panto and so this year I brought my panto partner in crime Vicky to come and see the venue for herself and to see if it would work for panto. And it felt so right.

“We haven't had panto in Bognor for a number of years because of the renovation of the wonderful theatre that we have got here. We just thought that Bognor has got a community that really does love panto and that we should do one. And we believe that panto has never been done on the pier before! The venue is a nightclub but we came in and it's got a such a lovely feel to it. It's the perfect place for panto. It is so cozy and so intimate. It feels like a music hall. It feels like you are walking into the golden age of music halls and it's got such a lovely community atmosphere to it.

“And what better panto to start with than Cinderella. Cinderella is the most beloved fairy story of all of them. It is so traditional and it is so magical. It is the traditional rags to riches story, a really beautiful story that everyone will know, that everyone will remember from having seen it somewhere before. And it's a story that allows us to give it our own twist while still offering the story that everyone knows and loves.

“We've got the ugly sisters and we are daring to call them the ugly sisters. They are very cheeky and they are very, very ugly. We've got two lovely gents who are dragging up just as all pantos need a bit of someone dragging up!

“I am producing. I'm in the Priory Park panto this year in Chichester as well, and I just felt that this was a project that needed someone fully behind the scenes. My career has turned a little bit more towards producing in recent years, and this is really the first full-scale production that I have done in Bognor Regis. My skill set has grown, and producing is something that I have started to feel an affinity with. I'm still getting my fill of performing but there is something really special about creating something from scratch and turning it into something really spectacular on stage and being able to cast it and to give people work at a time when the arts are being cut everywhere. And it's really great to be doing something for the community. Communities often get forgotten but this is very much about the community and very much about giving them something special.”