White Rock panto was high-flying success

Among the tales of credit-crunch fueled back news currently sweeping across 1066 Country, one establishment has managed to buck the trend by showing a very healthy 25 per cent revenue increase year on year for their Christmas show.

The show in question was Peter Pan and more than 18,000 people came to see the show. Darren Rapley from the theatre was delighted with the venue's bumper Christmas.

He said: "To say that we are incredibly pleased with this years figure is an understatement. The pantomime is an expensive show to put on and many promoters in times of recession will automatically cut back on stars, sets and actors.

"What we did, was in fact the opposite and invested heavily into big names, a massive set and professional dancers that complimented the local talent we recruited."

"To compare year on year figures for pantomime is difficult as some shows such as Cinderella and Aladdin will normally outperform other titles such as Dick Wittington and Jack and the Beanstalk.

"However, with our choice of cast, marketing and show title, we have shown that the residents of the area do enjoy seeing live entertainment."

However, when you choose a show such as Peter Pan, the star is not the only thing that flies sky high '“ costs are also affected. Mr Rapley continued: "There are two massive increases on costs when a theatre puts on Peter Pan.

"The first is the flying aspect - not only does a specialist company have to be employed to set up the rigging, extra people have to be in position to pull the hidden wires attached to the harnesses (at one time there were four actors flying) as well as the fact that when you decide to fly a member of one of the most successful pop bands the UK has seen across a stage, the insurance premiums hit the roof.

"The second extra cost is that under an agreement with the Show's owner, J M Barrie, a percentage of the revenue has to be donated to The Great Ormond Street Hospital - a good thing but plays havoc with profits."

With the theatre ambitiously yet successfully showing Peter Pan last Christmas, they have raised the stakes for pantomime for next years show - Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.