Glasgow's much loved Pavilion Theatre has taken the sad decision to cancel this year's Christmas panto amid concerns over safety of staff and customers due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
To make up for the cancellation, The Pavilion are getting the cast together to rehearse and film the cancelled panto and make it available online on Christmas Eve - and in doing so are encouraging Glasgow families to get together to create a bit of 'Pavilion Panto magic' at home this Christmas.
Theatre bosses have also announced that they will return next year with a new panto, The Magical Adventures of Cinderella, enabling them to keep both the cast together and ‘lockdown’ ticket prices.
This year's cancelled panto, Santa Claus is Coming To Town, was due to run from November 26 to January 10 and star the likes of Stephen Purdon, Dean Park, Gary Lamont and Nicola Park.
Announcing the decision to cancel via Facebook, The Pavilion wrote that while they have "always been optimistic in terms whether this production will be able to go ahead" they now feel that the time is right to make the decision to cancel.
The Facebook post reads: "In regards to this year’s Pantomime. We think that we have always been optimistic in terms whether this production will be able to go ahead but had to wait to see how things progressed but feel that the time is right now to make a decision and unfortunately, we are extremely disappointed to announce that we will now have to cancel this for the safety of all our customers and staff as it is evident just how this virus can return and spread quickly, especially in close contact areas such as theatres.
"We are sure, like us, you will all be disappointed as the Pavilion Panto is for a lot, the family day out with a lot of families returning year on year."
All tickets for this year's panto will be refunded to customers allowing them to purchase tickets for next year's panto if they wish, with refunds commencing from Monday, August 24.
The Pavilion will be issuing a priority link via e-mail to those who have booked for Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, which will enable those who had the best seats to get these again from Monday August 24 before going on sale to the general public from Monday September 21.
Meanwhile, theatre bosses are launching a Crowd Funding page soon to help them rehearse and film this year's Christmas panto to help them to pay the cast, crew and staff.
The Pavilion will announce more details about the funding page in due course.
Sounds like a great idea!
