I was lucky enough to have an interview with the director of The Parish Player’s Christmas Pantomime, Claire Cox. The Parish Players are an amateur dramatic company founded in 1954. This year their Pantomime is Peter Pan, filled with pirates, lost boys and local jokes. Claire Cox has been a member of the Parish Players for four years; she has performed in 4 pantomimes and 3 ‘may plays’.

Claire, is this your first time directing a show?

“ I’ve directed a professional panto, I co directed the parish player’s Alice In Wonderland and plenty of dance shows. One of which was extended by six weeks at Sadlers Wells.”

Apart from directing are you do anything else in this year’s panto?

“I play Tinkerbelle, I helped choreograph the dances and lots of people have helped make their costumes; I made my Tinkerbelle costume.”

Are you pleased with how everyone’s costumes look?

“Yeah, they look really good and it’s really nice that people helped to make their own costumes”

How long has the cast been rehearsing for the Panto?

“Rehearsals started 5 months ago in September. We normally meet Tuesday evenings but because the panto is so close we’ve been having extra rehearsals.”

How many people are involved?

“ Probably around 30, including the crew and band”

Without giving too much away, what is your favourite scene and song?

“My favourite scene has to be the first appearance of the pirates and my favourite song…I think its ‘With Cat Like Tread”

What was most difficult about directing the panto?

“Learning lines was definitely close but I think everything’s coming together now”

Finally, so far how have ticket sales been?

Really well! We’ve already sold out Friday’s performance and Saturday night also looks pretty full. The matinee only has about ¼ of tickets left for sale. Wednesday and Thursday still have quite a few tickets left but people often buy tickets at the door for those nights”

Anyone wanting to join the Parish Players or book tickets for Peter Pan should go to the parish player’s website: http://parishplayers.net .

By Freya Bernard, Surbiton High School.