This week Martin is behind the scenes at the UK Pantomime Association Awards at The New Victoria Theatre in Woking. The UKPA Awards are an exciting opportunity for the industry to come together and celebrate this special art form.

Amongst others Martin talks to Anita Harris, Elaine C Smith Simon Sladen, Sam Munday-Webb, Ben Goffe, Andrew Ryan and Basil Brush about the awards and their love of the genre.

They say there is ‘nothing like a dame’ and that can certainly be said to be true of pantomime. This episode Martin is joined by two performers who have played the role for many decades, Eric Potts and Iain Lauchlan.

 They discuss the development of the panto dame from ancient Greek theatre to the dames of the early 19th century, where what we recognise as a panto dame today came into being.

 They also discuss those performers who have influenced their style of dame and their own individual approaches to playing the role.

In this episode Martin chats to performer Ben Goffe who has recently been nominated as Best Comic in the UK Pantomime Awards for his role as Buttons for Imagine’s production of Cinderella at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon.

Ben comes from a theatrical family and learned to dance at his mum’s dance school from the age of 3. During his career Ben has spent two years with the RSC and two seasons with the National Theatre. A talented musician Ben has also appeared in the West End in the smash-hot Choir of Man where he played the trumpet and tap-danced, and has also made an appearance in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

We have reached 100 episodes of the Just Imagine podcast, and to celebrate our host Martin Ballard shares snippets from interviews with some panto legends including Morecambe and Wise, Roy Hudd, Danny La Rue, Larry Grayson, Nigel Ellacott, Bob Monkhouse as well as some favourite panto memories from the Imagine team.

 Don’t miss out on the special celebratory edition!

This week’s podcast takes place in Coventry, taking you on a tour around our brand new premises and HQ. Martin is joined by Sarah and Steve Boden who will be talking about the move and the need for a bigger space to house all of Imagine Theatres sets, costumes, props and office staff.

In this episode Martin gets an exclusive look at the new Imagine Theatre HQ, with a guided tour by Sarah and Steve and gets an understanding for the much needed move.

This week’s podcast subject is set design and Martin is joined by award-winning set designer Ian Westbrook. Ian has designed for theatre, television and film since 1985 and despite working on some high-profile productions he retains a deep fondness for panto and has designed a number of sets for Imagine Theatre in recent years.

 In this episode Martin learns how Ian came to be a set designer, how the design process and technology has changed since Ian first started in his career and the process he uses himself when designing sets.

This week some familiar voices return to the podcast as Robert Marsden and Mairi Cowieson join Martin to talk about Sleeping Beauty.

 Variations of the story have existed for hundreds of years all over the world. Rob and Mairi discuss the different ways in which they and others have approached the pantomime and the way the pantomime is forever evolving in line with the changing attitudes of the audience.

This week Martin catches up with Steve and Sarah Boden to talk about how the 2024 season has gone.

The 2024/25 panto season saw Imagine create their first ever panto in a big top circus tent, perform two brand new titles in Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Robin Hood and produce the first ever panto in the brand-new Fareham Live alongside continuing to develop their digital sets with the additional of digital versions of Aladdin and Jack and the Beanstalk.

They discuss all this, as well as what the team gets up to now the shows have closed and the exciting news that Imagine HQ is relocating to larger premises in Coventry within the next few months.

This week Martin catches up with some of the cast of Beauty and the Beastie in Glasgow: Liam Dolan, Valissa Scott and Nikki Auld.

The Pavilion panto is a big part of festive tradition for many Glasgwegians as well as the actors themselves – this year is Liam Dolan’s twenty-sixth panto with Nikki just pipping him having done twenty-eight!

 With the longest run of any of all of the Imagine pantomimes is not surprising to learn the cast are more like family than friends and Martin talks to them about why they love it so much and why the Pavilion panto in particular is so special. 

This week Martin is joined by The Chase’s Jenny Ryan who is spending the festive season in Crewe as The Enchantress in Beauty and the Beast.

Jenny talks to Martin about how she was influenced by theatre from a young age due to her grandparents links with the Octagon in Bolton, how she came to be one of the legendary Chasers and about why panto and live theatre in general is so special to her and the different ways in which a theatre visit for a child can inspire and enrich them.