In the hot seat this week is Business and Marketing Director Sarah Boden. Learn how Sarah went from working in the corporate sector to being owner of one of the largest pantomime companies in the United Kingdom and just what being a Business and Marketing Director of a pantomime company entails.  

Ever wondered what a normal day in February is like at Imagine Theatre Head Office? In the next group of episodes of Just Imagine, we're going to delve into the workings of Imagine as a company.  For Episode 23, Martin takes a walk around Imagine HQ on a normal day in February, chatting to the team and finding out what we do when the curtain is down and we're preparing for our next pantomime season. It certainly isn't a quiet on the day he pops in!

Martin Ballard talks to members of the Imagine Theatre team about the highs, the lows, and the unique challenges of the 2021 panto season. 

With all the uncertainties surrounding the ongoing pandemic 2021 was a season unlike any other and the team discuss the various issues that they encountered and the way the company and the productions had to adapt to ever changing circumstances in a heartfelt and honest look back at the season.

Laura Taylor is the guest on this festive edition of the podcast. She talks to Martin about her extensive career in the panto world, including some of the fascinating people she has worked with, and they even find the time to pull a few Christmas crackers! 

Compared to Aretha Franklin by the legendary Tom Jones and Bette Midler by Louis Walsh, Barbara Bryceland’s amazing career has led to her appearing on both The Voice and The X-Factor and she has recently been spending the festive season in her home-town panto at FTH Theatre in Falkirk.

From class clown to actor, writer and director and one of Scotland’s top dames, Fraser Boyle, joins Martin on the podcast this week to talk about where his love for panto comes from, the characters that influence his dame and his excitement at being back on the stage in Kilmarnock this Christmas.

This week Martin talks to the versatile Jenny Phillips who is a singer, actor, dancer and choreographer. She has done everything from being a Tweenie to being the current Choreographer of the Belgrade and Porthcawl pantomimes and she joins the podcast to talk about her love of working in children’s entertainment. 

Award winning panto dame Paul Morse is on the hot seat this week talking about his love of panto, reminiscing about some very comical panto moments, and discussing his very unusual day job!

This week we talk to the hilarious John Evans who will be doing his first Imagine panto this year at Venue Cymru. Martin chats to him about how he started out in amateur panto as a youngster, working on the comedy circuit and an unfortunate incident with a pantomime donkey!