In a normal year, Malvern Theatres would now be in final rehearsals for its annual pantomime.
This year it was due to be Peter Pan, the panto about the boy who refuses to grow up, and the curtain should have been going up on Thursday.
But for the first time in two decades, the main 880-seat auditorium in the Worcestershire spa town’s theatre will not be echoing to the sound of hundreds of children shouting “he’s behind you”.
Uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying restrictions prompted Malvern Theatres’ chief executive, Nic Lloyd, to decide back in May to cancel the year’s box office highlight.
From a financial point of view, it was a difficult call – and one that will not only have an impact on the venue. For all their fun, pantos are a serious business for theatres – and for many of the businesses around them.
“It was a very hard decision. Without the Christmas season you have no chance of breaking even,” Lloyd says.
“The panto is crucial for the theatre, as we are unsubsidised, but also for the local economy, to which the theatre is a huge contributor.”
Last year’s show, Aladdin, played 34 performances from 12 December into January and almost 31,000 people went to see the show – more than the population of Great Malvern itself – and it grossed just shy of £500,000 at the box office.
Pantos guarantee packed houses over several weeks – often supporting venues for the rest of the year – and generate more than £60m in annual revenue for Britain’s theatres, according to the trade association UK Theatre.
For Malvern, unlike many other theatres, the loss of the panto will be a financial blow but not a mortal wound.
The charitable trust that runs the Theatres has received a £971,000 grant from the government’s £1.57bn culture recovery fund, as well as donations from audience members, which Lloyd believes has secured its future until March next year.
The town at the foot of the Malvern Hills is a perennial draw for walkers but it also boasts a rich cultural history, including 135 years of theatre performances on the current site.
In more recent times, Malvern Theatres’ reputation has drawn audiences from Birmingham, Bristol and Wales, all about an hour’s drive away.
And these visitors do not only support the venue. According to Sheffield University research for the Arts Council, the contribution of the Theatres to the local economy has been estimated at up to £21m a year.
That comes as no surprise to local traders. “The panto pulls in people,” says Nigel Morris, rearranging Christmas decorations in his homeware shop, Rhubarb Home, down the road from the theatre. It is one of two shops he runs in the town with his wife Sara and son Jack.
“There is a matinee, and an evening performance, so people get here earlier, grab a coffee and usually have an hour or so to kill in town,” he says.
Despite the lack of panto, trade seemed to have bounced back after lockdown, says Morris, as he sells fairy lights and baubles to a steady stream of customers.
Shopping for festive decorations on their lunch break, solicitors Victoria Knight and Emma Grantham say family trips to the pantomime are an essential part of the Christmas season. “I don’t tend to go to anything at the theatre but the panto,” Knight says.
“It’s not going to be same this year,” says Tom Floyd, the owner of Abbey Road Coffee, a vegetarian cafe a few hundred metres from the theatre.
Before coronavirus, the coffee shop was a popular haunt of the actors and technical staff working on productions. In the past few months, Floyd has noticed more customers in the morning but afternoons are quiet.
AJ Bains is optimistic that in 2021 trade will return to the Mount Pleasant hotel he manages at the top of the town’s high street. But, for now, he is missing room and restaurant bookings from theatre patrons.
“We do a pre-theatre menu normally, and we do really well out of it. We’d usually have quite a few covers booked,” Bains says.
In a year without thousands of theatregoers, Malvern Hills district council is trying to boost trade in December and beyond, says Sarah Rouse, the leader of the council.
“We are looking at what can we do in January because usually the panto rolls on until then,” she says. “It was very disappointing, everyone loves the panto, but the reaction was, what can we do to counter it?”
The council has appointed a new staff member tasked with managing the town centre’s recovery from the pandemic, and extra Christmas markets have been booked.
While there won’t be a pantomime dame gracing the stage, Malvern Theatres will not remain dark during the festive season. The foyer has been decked with fairy lights, and rehearsals have begun for a festive play, The Snow Goose, which will run over 70 minutes without an interval for four nights during December. It also plans some film screenings and a comedy magic show for kids.
