There's no excuse for being bored this Christmas holiday. If the television offerings aren't to your liking, then maybe a visit to the theatre could be just what you need to shake off the holiday blues. This year Norfolk audiences have a wide choice of traditional pantomimes, the option of a trip to a seaside circus and stage adaptations of two much loved works of literature, including the seasonal A Christmas Carol. The stars of the small screen are stepping in front of the footlights, including Bad Girls' Nicole Faraday, Anglia TV's Helen McDermott, Coronation Street's Brian Hibbard and BBC Look East's Julie Reinger.  | | Julie Reinger as Fairy Kindheart |
"It does really petrify me," said Julie, featuring as Fairy Kindheart in Beauty and The Beast at Sheringham's Little Theatre. "I've got two songs which is quite frightening. I thought they'd give me a couple of lines to have a go at, but I've ended up with Be Our Guest and then there's a verse of Beauty And The Beast! "I've given a couple of close friends a blast and they've been pleasantly surprised, which has boosted my confidence," she added. Julie admits that time spent rehearsing, hasn't been without its embarrassing moments. "I've been sat singing along to the CD in the car and you come to a traffic light. I'm giving it my all then turn round and see people in the cars either side of me saying 'it's that mad woman off the telly and what is she doing?' as I sit there blasting out Be Our Guest!" she said. A word from the dame At the Princess Theatre in Hunstanton, Roger Dean returns for his second season in Norfolk pantomime, this time to play Nanny Glucose in Robin Hood and The Babes In The Wood. "Pantomime is an essential part of the Christmas traditions and it's essential as it gets children into the theatre for the first time," he said.  | | Roger Dean as Nurse Glucose |
"They find a magic which hopefully leads them on to going to the theatre as adults where they can discover the Shakespeares and so on. "The dame has to be warm and loveable. The kids have to instantly love her, but in my opinion dame should always be seen as man - the butchness must come through. She has to be saucy and cheeky but never crude - it's all good knock-about stuff," he added. Further around the East coast, it's the Pavilion Theatre in Gorleston that will be paved with gold as Dick Whittington hopes to find his fortune. The cast includes Anglia television's Helen McDermott. "We were told that if we did something in the Gorleston and Great Yarmouth area we'd get no support - that was like a red rag to a bull to me. As soon as someone said that no one will come along I said 'oh yes they will' and so far we've had fantastic help from the people there," she said. One of the biggest pantomimes to be staged in the region can be seen at the Norwich Theatre Royal. Bad Girls' Nicole Faraday stars at the wicked Moran Le Fay and she's loving every minute of it, no matter what the industry might think. "Ask any actor - it is much more fun being evil! I like to think I'm such a lovely person in real life, it makes a refreshing change. It would be nice to be a goodie one day though. "I've never paid any attention to industry snobbery - if I enjoy something then I will do it. Not everybody can do pantomime, it is a specific discipline and, in its own way, as hard to get right as Shakespeare," she added. An alternative to pantomime  | | Scrooge observes a ghostly future |
In addition to the traditional pantomimes, the Hippodrome Circus in Great Yarmouth is presenting another Christmas spectacular and two of the great literary classics are also on offer to this year. In Westacre, the River Studio Theatre are presenting Kenneth Grahame's Wind In the Willows and in Norwich, The Maddermarket's Christmas offering is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Norfolk's pantomime and festive show season opens on Friday 10 December and runs until Saturday 22 January, 2005. For full details of show times, use the link to our pantomime round-up on the right hand side of this page. If you're staging a village panto, don't forget to send us your details. | 
