Oh yes it is! “What is?” you may be asking. Well it’s time to start thinking about going to the Pickering Panto of course! This year we are presenting Mother Goose by Ron Hall, the panto author, aficionado, Musical Society member and of course, Pickering resident! The show will be directed by Jennifer Dale, who is well known locally for her many comic fairy roles, as well as having directed pantomimes for the Society. Jennifer played the part of Fairy Liquid when the Society last produced Mother Goose in 1999.
        This year’s cast includes Marcus Burnside as Mother Goose, Linda Tester as Idle Jack, Greta Laidler and David Tester as Fanny and Danny the evil Squire’s henchmen. Granville Tebbutt will be playing the Squire and Ann Bircumshaw is the devilish Demon Queen. Also appearing are Michelle Carter, as Jill, Mother Goose’s lovely daughter and Annie Lord as principal boy, Colin. Maureen Symonds as Kitty and of course Jennifer Dale in her customary role as Fairy, this year, called Fairy Fix – It.
        As always the show will be full of songs, dances (junior dancers trained by Kirkbymoorside’s Sarah Ashworth and senior dances by Julie Hatton owner of the Hatton Academy of Dance in Scarborough) and general silliness. Of course, good will be fighting evil and although there are no prizes for guessing which side wins, it is always entertaining to watch!
        The show runs on 10th / 11th January and 13th - 17th January with evening performances starting at 7.15pm and matinees (10th, 11th and 17th January) at 2.15pm.
The theatre Box Office will be opening in mid December – as usual, watch the showcase outside the theatre for details, or go on to the theatre website on www.communigate.co.uk/ryedale/pms
        Please also watch out for details of our spring show 2009 – more details in the next Beacon!
Thanks to everyone who came to our War Time revue – many performances were sellouts and we really appreciate the support of our audiences. We hope to see you at Mother Goose. Oh yes we do!

Linda Tester.