Queens Park Arts Centre announces special series of pantomime performances for 2024 festive season

Aylesbury’s Queens Park Arts Centre is gearing up for a panto season like no other, with a brand-new pantomime adventure at its Limelight Theatre. This year’s spectacular show, ‘The Storyteller’ marks a new chapter in the long-running tradition of festive pantomimes at QPAC – and it’s been made even more special by the recent announcement that Unbound Theatre, the award-winning storytellers behind the production, have won the Bucks Spark Award for Best Cultural Event.

The award, presented by Buckinghamshire Culture, was in acknowledgement of the company’s recent Buckinghamshire Shakespeare Festival, which toured a brand new production of ‘Richard II’ to venues all over the county including Waddesdon Manor, Wycombe Museum, Buckingham Library, Ascott Estate, The Nag’s Head (Great Missenden), The King’s Head (Aylesbury), Sunneyhill Barn (Rowsham), and QPAC itself.

Dario Knight, Unbound’s creative producer, said about the accolade: ‘We’re hugely proud (or should that be “verily proud”?) to receive one of the inaugural Bucks Spark Awards – it’s a fantastic way to celebrate the amazing team of local talent who volunteered so much time, energy, and hard work to bring great high-quality storytelling to the whole county’.

Unbound Theatre, are celebrating a decade of inspirational storytelling, and their upcoming pantomime is a fitting celebration of two major anniversaries: 40 years of in-house pantomimes at QPAC and 10 years since the launch of Unbound Theatre. ‘The Storyteller’ is set to enchant audiences with a brand-new fairytale ten years in the making, complete with all your favourite panto staples: sing-a-long songs, riotous slapstick routines, dazzling dances, and plenty of audience participation!

The Unbound Library is one of the wonders of the wide world – the biggest collection of stories ever assembled! Legend has it that the library’s owner – Elias, the Grand Storyteller – possesses magic so powerful that he can pull a story from the page and make it come to life before your very eyes. The spell is a closely guarded secret – one a rival storyteller is determined to steal…

The show once again features the talented dancers of SDSD dance school, who are working alongside the award-winning volunteers of Queens Park Arts Centre to create a show packed full of beautiful hand-made scenery, costumes, and props. The Unbound Library itself is being kept a closely guarded secret! ‘Our creative team do a spectacular job every year,’ says Dario, ‘but this time they’ve gone an extra mile to create the most impressive set we’ve ever worked on. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to the breath-takingly beautiful Unbound Library’.

Once again, QPAC is committed to making the pantomime as affordable and accessible as possible, with relaxed and BSL interpreted performances available during the run. For the first time, every performance during opening weekend will offer £9 tickets for all, with standard shows costing £14 adults / £11 concessions / £9 under-16s.

And if one pantomime isn’t enough to get you in the festive spirit, QPAC and Unbound have got you covered! They’ll also be presenting ‘Panto Tales’ for three consecutive Saturdays in the run up to the main show. These hour-long storytelling shows feature a narrator and three actors bringing a classic pantomime story to life. The three stories are Jack and the Beanstalk (23 Nov), Dick Whittington (30 Nov), and Cinderella (7 Dec), with performances at 1.30pm and 4.30pm on each day.

The Storyteller opens on 13 Dec and runs until 29 Dec, with a mixture of 1pm, 5.30pm, and 7.30pm performances. Full information available at www.queensparkarts.com.