Three Pontefract school boys to take to the stage in first principal pantomime roles

St Giles with St Mary’s Pantomime Theatre Society is making a welcome return to Pontefract Town Hall in January 2023 after a hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The society is now hard at work putting together their Panto Dick Whittington by Alan Frayn which will be performed from Sunday, January 15 to Saturday, January 21, 2023.

The story of Dick Whittington starts in the streets of London where the audience is introduced to the evil Queen Rat and her Ratlings who are keen to take over Old London Town.

The Ratlings in this production are being played by nine-year-olds Seth Empsall and Zack Weston, and 10-year-old Chester Williams. All the boys joined the society when they were aged 5 and have been dancers.

Society director and producer Jo Sykes, who is playing Queen Rat, said: “We are really lucky to have such talented youngsters in the pantomime and working with the Ratlings is great fun.

"I think someone once said to avoid working with children and animals – well we’ve got a combination of both and it’s going well – so far!

"We also have a fabulous group of junior dancers, many of whom have been with us since they were small and this year we welcomed nine new Sunbeam dancers. So, local children are well represented on stage.”

The boys are all third generation members of the society and are looking forward to continuing this tradition.

During lockdown they took part in a number of online drama recordings including one about Pontefract’s history and a special feature for Yorkshire Day.

For many of the children they are part of a family tradition. Seth’s dad is playing Dolly Dumpling, his mum, will be playing the Dame, and his grandma will be managing the Dame’s quick changes and grandad will be working front-of-house.

Chester’s grandfather is the society’s music director and his grandma made the Ratlings’ costumes.

Zack’s sister is a junior dancer and his dad is playing Alderman Fitzwarren.

For tickets book online https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/stgileswithstmaryspantomimetheatresociety, call 07931921931 or email [email protected].