Rehearsals begin for 2023 panto!

Written by Cath Moyse - Tue 1st Nov 2022

Sunday marked the first rehearsal for our 2023 pantomime "Hickory Dickory Dock", which will be raising funds for Nai's House in Bicester.

It's still only October, but with just 108 days and 22 rehearsals until opening night, it's time to start dusting off the scripts and treading the boards again. February half term is earlier next year than in 2022 so we're left with 10 days less to perfect our performance.

The first part of the session was devoted to housekeeping - Membership, Social Media, Safeguarding, Health & Safety and the all important Tea Rota. There was also a callout for props which intriguingly included a catapult, an oversized squeezy plastic bottle and a freezer!

Once the admin was out of the way, the cast got down to learning the dances to three of the featured songs. The first run through was a sing along to a recording of the song, followed by singing to live music from our band. Then it was time for Julia, our choreographer, to get everyone on the dancefloor where she led the cast through the moves step by step. I was amazed that by the end of the first evening the cast had learned three dances to quite a reasonable standard (but then these are professionals!). It was interesting to observe how different cast members had their own preferred methods for learning the dances. Some took copious notes, whilst others zoned out and practiced a move over and over in their private space until they had perfected it.

Tickets for the pantomime go on sale on Friday 18th November from www.ticketsource.co.uk/lvp. This year we will be offering family tickets, early bird discounts and a full row of floor-level accessible seats. Pantomime tickets make great Christmas presents!

If you can't wait until February, then you can see Launton Village Players at the following events:

• Bicester Christmas Lights Switch On - Saturday 26th November 10am-6pm
• Light the Light at the Hummingbird Centre on Sunday 4th December 12pm-5pm
• Launton Community Choir Christmas Concert at St Mary's Church on Saturday 10th December at 5pm
• Carol Singing around Launton on Friday 23rd December.
• We will also be decorating a tree for the St Edburg's Christmas Tree Festival from 2nd to 4th December.