Just Imagine

From playing a mosquito aged 3 in Alice Through the Looking Glass to the present day Nathan has always loved performing. Coming from a strong theatre family Nathan was actually in a panto in the Junior Ensemble before he had even been in the audience to watch one and his love of the genre has been with him ever since. He has spent many years as a comic with Imagine Theatre in Porthcawl and Rotherh...

Simon Sladen and Steve Boden join Martin to talk about the history of Mother Goose. Although it is not that frequently performed these days it historically enjoyed great success with Dan Leno and Joseph Grimaldi both appearing in early versions of the show and more recently we have seen Ian McKellen playing the role to great success. They discuss the themes of the show and how many of them have re...

Musical Director Paul Burnett’s daughter Caroline joins Martin this week to talk about her father’s career and life growing up with theatrical parents. Paul was a prolific musical director in the 1950s to the 1980s in the true heart of variety. He conducted multiple royal variety performances, was the MD of choice for people like Morcambe and Wise and many many others. He was also musically involv...

Have you ever wanted to know more about the music in the pantomime? This week Martin is joined by Miles Russell who has spent a number of panto seasons as an MD and Arranger with Imagine Theatre. From starting out age seven learning to play the trumpet Miles is now a multi-instrumentalist. He has worked as an actor-musician, Musical Director and Arranger amongst other roles. He talks to Martin abo...

Join Martin as he goes back stage at this year's UK Pantomime Awards. Taking place on Tuesday 18th June at G Live in Guildford, the 2024 pantomime awards were another star studded, glittering evening celebrating all things panto!  Martin talks to presenters Ore Oduba, Angelica Bell alongside lots of the award winners and members of the UK Pantomime Association board!

This week Martin is joined by former contestant on The Great British Sewing Bee and current Deputy Head of Wardrobe at Imagine Theatre, Adam Brooks. Adam talks about those early influences that led to his love of theatre and costume. He also discusses his varied career from drama school, to being a Cruise Director, to becoming Deputy Head of Wardrobe for Imagine Theatre and how his on stage theatr...

This week Martin talks to two key members of the Imagine team about how they got into the industry and their experiences of training in stage management.  Ruth Porter, Deputy Head of Stage Management and Props and Jazmyne Evans, Operations and Production Administrator talk to Martin about how their early experiences of theatre led them to work in the industry and what their current roles at Imagin...

This week’s episode focuses on the roles of two key elements of any theatrical production – the lighting and the sound.  Lighting Designer and Programmer Matt Ladkin and Sound Designer and Head of Project Engineering and Head of Education at Orbital Sound Mike Thacker, join Martin to talk about these invaluable roles. They talk through exactly what each role involves, how the process develops thro...

This week Eric Potts and Palace panto regular James McAnerney join Martin on the podcast to talk about Snow White. Snow White originated from the Brothers Grimm in the early 1800s and it grew and developed from there to become the version of the story we know today.   Eric and James discuss the history of the pantomime, the variations in the story, some of the iconic elements such as the magic mir...

We are already a third of the way through the year and this week on the podcast Sarah and Steve talk to Martin about where Imagine are in the panto process at the moment.  New set and costume designs are underway for the three brand news shows being created this year. This includes planning for the team to produce panto in a circus tent for the first time this year with a brand new show and the st...

Episode 75 – The Role of the Director   This week the podcast focuses on the role of the director. Robert Marsden and Mairi Cowieson join Martin on the podcast to discuss what being a director actually involves.  They discuss how the role of director has developed from ancient times to present day, their routes into directing and their personal approaches to directing pantomime. 

Joint CEO of Trafalgar Entertainment Dame Rosemary Squire and CEO and COO of Trafalgar Theatres Helen Enright are Martin’s guests on the podcast this week. Despite an early love of theatre, neither Rosemary or Helen set out to have a career in the industry and both came to their current roles through very different paths. Join us as they discuss their career development, the importance of both reg...

This week Swansea legend Kev Johns joins Martin on the podcast. Kev has been a panto dame for 30 years, with 25 of those at the Swansea Grand. He also presented numerous radio shows, including more than 20 years on the Breakfast Show, as well as being a match day announcer for his local football team, The Swans. Kev is also heavily involved in charity work, receiving an MBE in 2010 for his service...

The pantomime version of Beauty and the Beast is one of the most popular titles of all, along with being one of the most loved Disney classics. This week Eric Potts and Liam Dolan join Martin on the podcast to discuss one of their favourite titles.

This week Steve Boden and Laura Taylor join Martin to talk about the role of the producer. Producers are crucial to each production as they have overall responsibility for the show, but it is one of the roles that many people know little about. Steve and Laura explain how they came to be panto producers and what it entails – from relationships with theatres, title choices, how the scriptwriters, c...

Martin catches up with Sarah and Steve to discuss how the 2023 panto season went and what is in store for 2024. Imagine have had their biggest ever panto season with 19 pantomimes and 3 Santa shows. They have employed more people than ever before with around 500 people hired by Imagine to work on the productions, plus around 400 children who were part of Junior Ensembles. January sees the start of...

This week Martin goes backstage at DMH where he spent 10 years performing in panto himself to chat to the cast of this year’s Jack and the Beanstalk. He finds out how Scott Mills has settled in to his first ever pantomime, learns Jarred Christmas’s process for choosing his final jokes for the show, discovers how son Jack Ballard is getting on playing his first ever Dame role as well as finding out...

For the Christmas edition of the podcast Martin heads to Swindon to talk to the cast of Snow White at The Wyvern - David Ashley, Divina De Campo, Nathan Connor, Paul Burling and Samantha Dorrance. This episode also features special Christmas messages from some of the Imagine team.

This week Martin is joined by radio presenter Scott Mills who is making his pantomime debut this year in Jack and the Beanstalk at De Montfort Hall. Scott talks to Martin about how his decision to do a panto came about, the advice he has been getting from his showbiz pals and his past performing experience on Strictly Come Dancing.  Don’t miss Scott in panto at De Montfort Hall 15 Dec 2023 – 7 Jan...

This week Imagine’s Joint CEO and Business and Marketing Director Sarah Boden joins Martin to talk through everything that is currently happening at Imagine Theatre HQ as well as on the pantomimes themselves. Everything is in full swing with two shows now open, some shows in rehearsal and others due to start rehearsing shortly. The final touches to set, costumes and props are done and they are bei...

This week Martin is joined by Imagine Theatre’s Steve Boden and performer and director Steven Wren to talk about Peter Pan. Peter Pan has been around for 120 years in numerous forms – firstly as a book and then a play, a musical, many different movie adaptations, and now as an increasingly popular panto.  They discuss the way that it has been adapted over the years, the way the story is evolving a...

Panto Set Pieces and Routines Simon Sladen, Paul Morse, Janice Dunn join Martin on this week’s episode to talk about the traditional panto set pieces and routines such as slosh scenes, ghost gags, song sheets and call backs. They delve back into the early days of panto to talk about where some of the routines originated as well as discussing some more modern innovations.  A must listen episode for...

This week on the podcast Martin is joined by actor and director Andrew Agnew.  From starting out in The Wizard of Oz at school and being mesmerized by panto as a child to playing PC Plum in Balamory, Andrew talks about how he got into the industry and how his career has developed.  He also talks about the differences between English and Scottish panto and the challenges of playing Dame as well as...

This week on the podcast Martin is joined by three guests to discuss the role of technology in pantomime. He talks to Imagine’s Artistic Director Eric Potts, Head of Operations, Dave Edmunds and Nina Dunn from PixelLux. They discuss the innovations throughout the history of pantomime and how technology has helped with the evolution of the genre in a variety of ways from lighting, sound, automated...

For this week’s podcast Martin joined the team at their largest photoshoot event of the year. Taking place over 4 days the August shoot brings people together from all over the United Kingdom to have their publicity photos taken and promo videos filmed. This is the final shoot of the year and is the last opportunity to gather marketing assets for the forthcoming season.  The shoot not only brings...