Runaway success for Shropshire pantomimes

Shropshire's two major have pantomimes have proved to be runaway successes – with theatre bosses hailing one as a recordbreaker.

Despite the current economic difficulties, thousands of theatre-lovers flocked to see the productions, which were held in Shrewsbury and Telford.

At the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, delighted theatre bosses said that its festive show Aladdin was a record-breaker.

Aladdin broke box office records by selling 33,500 tickets over the course of its run.

Theatre manager Peter Nicholson said: "We had 33,500 people and that is a record. We sold 2,500 tickets more than the previous year."

Meanwhile, bosses at Oakengates Theatre @ The Place, in Telford, said its production of Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood was a big hit, with nearly three quarters of the tickets selling.

Theatre manager Debbie King said they had set themselves a target to achieve the same success as the 2010/11 pantomime, Jack and The Beanstalk, when 73 per cent of tickets sold.

Mrs King said the recent panto achieved similar results, with 70 per cent of the available tickets selling. More than 15,000 people saw the panto at Oakengates Theatre.

Elsewhere, Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre saw its pantomime smash through the million pound mark, with more than 60,000 people watching the show.

The theatre's 2011/12 panto, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, followed in the footsteps of the venue's previous show, Aladdin, and once again took more than a million pounds.

More than 60,000 people watched the 74 performances of Snow White, which starred Sam Kane and his wife Linda Lusardi.

The production, which finished its run last month, had 12 performances fewer than Aladdin.

A spokesman for the theatre said: "Average capacity and the pro-rota attendance was up on last year with over 60,000 people seeing the pantomime in total."

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