Oldham Coliseum postpone 2020 Panto

The iconic Coliseum Theatre in Oldham

Oldham’s Coliseum Theatre has suffered a further blow with the news that it’s popular festive panto has been called off for 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

It had been hoped they would be able to put on their production of Aladdin at the venue on Fairbottom Street but those hopes have now been dashed after a statement was posted on the theatre’s website.

“It is with a very heavy heart that we announce that our 2020 pantomime Aladdin is postponed to Christmas 2021.

A trip to the Coliseum’s annual pantomime has been a festive tradition for the people of Oldham and beyond for many generations and we’re incredibly disappointed that this year will be different. We have been working on Aladdin for months now with our amazing staff and creative team and we’re saddened that we’ll have to wait another year to share this with you all.

However, our first priority as an organisation is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff, audiences, cast and crew, and our second priority is to ensure that we as a company are here to create the magic of theatre in Oldham for years to come. We feel that trying to stage Aladdin as planned this Christmas would put both of these priorities in jeopardy.”

The Coliseum continued: “It is simply not possible for us to stage our pantomime with social distancing in place. The high quality panto you’ve come to expect from the Coliseum requires significant investment – an investment we cannot afford to make if we’re only able to sell a small percentage of our seats. The Government has stated that it cannot give theatres any indication of when they can reopen without social distancing until November at the earliest – the month our panto was due to open.”

The theatre has been closed since the country-wide lockdown was put in place back in March, meaning a whole host of shows they would normally expect to stage have been cancelled or postponed to 2021.

It meant the major financial commitment of staging the ever-popular panto was just too much for the theatre to afford.

“we have seen locally in Oldham how quickly Coronavirus can spread and lockdown measures reinstated. Usually at this point in the year, the making of our panto would be well under way. We would have our cast, our community chorus, be making set, props and costumes, planning to start rehearsals in October. In a year that is incredibly financially challenging because of our extended closure, we cannot commit to investing money in making Aladdin knowing that we might not be able to open the show for our audiences. This would be financially catastrophic for us as an organisation and we cannot risk our future and those of the staff, artists and creatives we support.”

Anyone who bought tickets for the performance will be contacted by a member of the team at the Coliseum with dates for this year’s panto being transferred over to next year’s performance.

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