PENARTH could be home to the UK’s first ever Christmas pantomime radio show, thanks to an arts company and a community station born in lockdown.
Alex Wilson of Red Herring Theatre and Andrew Smillie of Penarth Sounds teamed up on Sunday to record Jack and the Beanstalk at the Paget Rooms with nine Red Herring actors, which will be free to listen to on the Penarth Sounds website.
Mr Smillie thought up Penarth Sounds in the spring as a way of connecting people during lockdown.
“When Penarth Sounds started I sent out requests for ideas,” he said. “Alex was one of the first people to reply offering support.”
Mr Wilson explained: “We’ve been speaking about ideas ever since about a performance, and we hoped to do one at the pavilion, but with the pandemic it proved impossible.
“It’s been an awful time for the arts, it’s the first year of our lives where there will be no pantomimes, so we started racking our brains on how we could bring one here.
“The first thing to do was to get a script, which I wrote, and then the big challenge was to make listeners feel as though they are at a pantomime,” Mr Wilson added.
“We’ve had to make sure there are lots of sound effects, and we’d like to think there are plenty of funny gags for all ages.
“It’s been a wonderful opportunity and it’s lovely to think of families listening to it around the computer.”
Mr Smillie says he has already been contacted by numerous stations interested in airing the hour-long show.
“With most things cancelled this year we felt it was important to try and do something,” he said. “We have been trying to get some funding to pay the actors, but that became impossible. Everything has been done for free.
“The first live broadcast will be on Sunday December 13 at 5pm on the Penarth Sounds website.
“It will then be repeated every Sunday for four weeks at the same time, and on Boxing Day at 3pm.
“After Sunday December 13 you can also watch it whenever you like on the website with the ‘listen again’ button.
“While it’s free to listen there is no doubting the impact of the pandemic on the arts and on us. If you would like to donate to either of us, it would be greatly appreciated.”
More information at https://penarthsounds.co.uk/.
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