Theatre Royal Bath is delighted to announce West End and Emmerdale star Tom Lister will play Abanazar in the enchanting family pantomime Aladdin this Christmas, alongside Bath favourite Jon Monie as Wishee Washee and EastEnders’ Nick Wilton as Dame Widow Twankey. Staged by UK Productions for the 2022 festive season, this truly traditional family show will run at the Theatre Royal from Thursday 8th December to Sunday 8th January.
Guaranteed to entertain both the young and the young at heart, Aladdin will feature a brand-new joke-filled script penned by Bath’s own all-round pantomime legend Jon Monie. One of the most popular pantomimes of all, the thrilling story of a boy, a lamp and a genie has kept audiences spell-bound for generations. Families visiting the Theatre Royal this Christmas can look forward to a fun-packed performance full of side-splitting comedy, slapstick, singing, dancing, dazzling special effects, beautiful costumes and plenty of audience participation.
Martin Dodd, Producer of the pantomime Aladdin, said:
“We have got everything that you could wish for this year in our spectacular production of Aladdin. A brand-new hilarious script by the fabulous Jon Monie, the most boo-able of baddies in the form of West End and TV star Tom Lister, and dame extraordinaire EastEnders’ Nick Wilton returning to the Theatre Royal stage, oh and of course the one and only Jon Monie himself as Wishee Washee. With lavish sets and costumes, sensational song and dance numbers and lamp loads of laughs, your wish is our command!”
Award-winning panto baddie Tom Lister is set to play one of theatre’s favourite villains, Abanazar. Tom is best known on television for his role as Carl King in Emmerdale, a part he played for 9 years across 793 episodes before making a dramatic exit in 2012. His screen credits also include Doctors, Heartbeat, The Bill and The Doll Maker. Tom won Best Villain at the inaugural Great British Pantomime Awards for his role as Captain Hook; a part he reprised last Christmas in The Further Adventures of Peter Pan: The Return of Captain Hook, also written by Jon Monie, at Malvern Theatres. In the West End, Tom starred in the lead role of Julian Marsh in the musical 42nd Street at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a critically acclaimed production which ran for two years and was shown in cinemas nationwide in 2019. Amongst his theatre credits, he has also starred as Wild Bill in Calamity Jane on UK tour, Callaghan in Legally Blonde in South Korea, and Grimes and Eel in Water Babies at Leicester’s Curve.
Pantomime favourite Jon Monie – who has also written this year’s pantomime script - returns by popular demand to play Wishee Washee. In January 2019, Jon entered the record books when he made his 1,000th Bath pantomime performance starring as Smee in Peter Pan. Now marking his twentieth Christmas show at the Theatre Royal, Jon also wrote Bath’s 2021 pantomime Cinderella and starred as Buttons. Pantomimes penned by Jon are staged in theatres nationwide produced by UK Productions. His panto Beauty and the Beast, which played Bath in December 2019, starring Jon in the role of Louis La Plonk, won Best Script at the Great British Pantomime Awards. Actor, television presenter, award-winning writer and comedian, Jon has recently been seen on our screens in The Nevers for HBO/Sky, Moominvalley for Sky and BBC’s The Outlaws and Showtrial.
Image: Jon Monie for Aladdin
Nick Wilton makes a welcome return to Bath this year to play Widow Twankey. One of the best Dames in the business, Nick has played the iconic pantomime role in theatres across the UK since 2000. He has previously delighted Bath audiences as Polly La Plonk in Beauty and the Beast in 2019, Nursie in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 2017, Widow Twankey in Aladdin in 2016 and Dame Trott in Jack and the Beanstalk in 2015. On television, Nick has played Market Inspector Mr Lister as a series regular in EastEnders since 2008. His screen credits also include Carrott’s Lib, Heartbeat, Doc Martin, The Bill, Casualty and the children’s show Big Meg, Little Meg.
Pantomime has been an essential part of the programming mix in Bath for over 200 years. In November 1815, ten years after the Theatre Royal opened at Bath’s Sawclose, the famous Joseph Grimaldi played the clown in Mother Goose. The following century pantomimes produced by the Maddox family, who took over management in 1937, put Bath on the panto map again. In 2022, Martin Dodd’s UK Productions return to the Theatre Royal to entertain West Country audiences for the twenty-fifth year, hot on the heels of 2021’s unanimously acclaimed Cinderella, which is nominated for the accolade of Best Panto in the 2022 Great British Pantomime Awards.
Aladdin appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Thursday 8th December to Sunday 8th January. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk
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