Panto boss’s kind words for injured actor

Monday 11th January 2010, 8:00PM GMT.

Kiley Mcdonnell

A pantomime boss has spoken of his sadness after Shrewsbury pantomime star Kiley McDonnell was injured in the town’s explosion.

John Spillers, who runs Spillers Pantomimes Ltd, based in Chislehurst in Kent, said actor Kiley McDonnell was “an extremely good artist” .

Mr McDonnell, from west London, was starring in Peter Pan at Theatre Severn as the character Jovial Jake when he was injured in the blast.

Mr Spillers said he believed Mr McDonnell was saying goodbye to his family who it is thought had seen him perform in the panto the day before the explosion.

He said: “I was down south at one of our other shows and our company manager told me what happened just after the accident. It really was a dampener. I felt sorry for the guy. He’s worked for us for two or three years.

“He’s an extremely good artist, talented man and one of the Spillers family. You get accidents on stage but not from an artist saying goodbye to his family and this happening.”

Mr McDonnell, who is understood to be in his early 30s, began his career performing in nightly production shows before appearing in Casper the Musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

He toured with Stars in Their Eyes live for Granada television and Joe Pasquale’s Rentaghost the Musical Roadshows. He has also played principal roles in other pantomimes.

View more: Shrewsbury Explosion news.