Honiton Pantomime Society is breaking the mould of amateur theatre groups nationwide by changing our name to reflect our plans to continue to present modern, relevant entertainment for Honiton and the surrounding area as well as our ambition to put on more shows every year as a thriving group. The new name will be ‘Honiton Community Theatre Company’ and our Christmas Variety Show ‘Over the Sledge’ and 2016 Pantomime ‘Peter Pan’ are the first productions announced under the new name.
Following in the footsteps of Axminster Musical Theatre and Lyme Regis Musical Theatre, a unanimous vote by members confirmed that the group will update its name to ‘Honiton Community Theatre Company’ under which their critically acclaimed summer production of ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ was presented as a joint production.
The chairperson of the group Barbara Simmonds commented;
“Many of our members wish to perform plays and musicals as well as the favourite pantomime and the new name is more appropriate for this. I am looking forward to the future with excitement as our group develops and challenges itself.”
The name change has come around based on the group’s aim to remain the premier amateur performing arts group in the Honiton area with over 50 members taking part in productions over the past 30 years. The group was originally formed by the then mayor Patrick Allen and the first Pantomime ‘Cinderella’ was performed in 1985.
Publicity officer Alex Jackson commented
“We have some exciting and challenging plans for our future at the moment and building on our recent move to The Beehive for our performances we’ll be taking our Christmas variety show on tour before our Pantomime in February. Following this our lips are sealed for now but we hope to build on the success of ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ by producing other entertaining productions for the community.”
The community is strongly represented in the new name of the group who are keen to continue to be grounded as an all-inclusive and friendly local amateur dramatics company. Part of this is because the group is a bit of a family affair with many generations of different families being involved over the years. Shaun Bonetta, Vice Chairperson said:
“We’ve always welcomed people from all walks of life to take part on stage and off stage and become part of the family. We all have a really great time producing our shows and it’s fantastic to be able to share that experience with friends made along the way. “
Tickets for ‘Over the Sledge Variety Show’ and ‘Peter Pan’ are now on sale at The Beehive.