What is a pantomime?
Pantomime has a long history and ventures back to The Ancient Greeks who developed a style of performance with no words, but the actors used their whole body to communicate. They staged energetic silent productions, using lots of comedy and drawing on popular stories from Greek mythology.
Today, Pantomime is a form of musical comedy designed for family entertainment, and is often based on traditional fairy tales. It is expected that the audience joins in with the performance, for example booing at the bad character or shouting out phrases to the performers. There are key characters that appear in all pantomimes, such as the Dame, and there are often male actors dressed as women and female actors dressed as men – all part of the comedy! The UK is one of the few countries that perform pantomimes in this format, usually around Christmas time or in the New Year.
The Little Mermaid - 2025
As heir to her father Neptune's underwater kingdom, mermaid Aria's future seems set in stone - but is there more for her out there, maybe even above the waves? To find out, she does a deal with her aunt Hydra who transforms her into a human, much to her father's horror. But it soon becomes clear that Hydra may not have her best interests at heart - unbeknownst to Aria, she wants the throne for herself. Luckily, Aria has many friends that help her out, from her loyal companion Finn to her father's advisors, Claude and Shelly. She also meets new ones along the way, including Chips the seagull and a human called Caspian, whose curiosity for the sea mirrors hers for the land. Will Aria return to the sea to take her place on the throne? Will Hydra and her slithery sidekicks triumph on their quest for power? And, most important of all, will Aria's hapless sister Sandy ever manage to get anything right? Join us to find out...
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“Carers and young people alike really enjoyed the show and had an absolutely fantastic day out”
“It was the funniest, biggest-gargantuan show I ever seen I loved it!!!”
“I could not resist dancing along it was like a magnet drawing me in”
I heard a lot of 'you've got bad breath and a hairy chest' throughout the day! Many thanks for making it such a memorable night for the children.
PwC Pantomime
Beauty and the Beast was our 37th PwC Pantomime, a remarkable achievement for a unique charitable theatrical production.
The Pantomime is put together by around 200 PwC staff and alumni who work on all aspects of the production in their spare time, covering everything from acting, singing, dancing and directing to script and lyric writing, costume design, make-up, lighting, sound, backstage crew, music arrangement and playing in the band.
It’s an important part of the PwC in the Community programme in the UK. It is supported financially by the PwC Management Board and the fundraising efforts of the PwC Pantomime Production Team.
The wider PwC in the Community programme in the UK has been running for over two decades and aims to promote the social inclusion of those in the communities where we have an office presence.
Each year the Pantomime supports a different charity that is selected by our PwC Pantomime Community.
Why do we do it?
Our aim is to bring joy to children, particularly to those from inner-city schools and charities, by giving them the chance to see a theatrical production at a professional theatre, and we aspire to spark in them a life-long love of the performing arts.
During the 2020 run of Treasure Island, PwC gave away around 8,000 tickets to disadvantaged children from inner city schools and charities, in addition to providing free transportation to the show and a goody bag, courtesy of our generous sponsors. Special performances were signed for hearing impaired children and described for visually impaired children, and the latter were also given a chance to interact with props, musical instruments and costumes before the show as part of our annual "touch tour".
As well as meeting some of the firm's corporate sustainability objectives, the PwC Pantomime also provides PwC employees with a means of developing skills they can apply on the job, such as teamwork, leadership, communication, planning and time management. It’s a great example of the firm doing the right thing for our clients, our people and our communities.
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