Doncaster Theatre staff put on a show every Saturday morning for kids

James Worthington, Artistic Director of Tale Gate Theatre, is putting on live pantomime performances for children every Saturday morning, along with his colleague Phillip Ward.

“Instead of moping around that all of our shows are cancelled up until September we decided to bring some joy to kids.

“I was inspired by the Live and Kicking show that I used to watch as a child and thought it would be a good idea to put it on a Saturday.

“Every day is blending together at the moment and we hope that this will create some excitement for the weekend again,” said James, of Auckey.

The touring theatre company was due to set off their performance of Goldilocks and the Three Bears this summer but this has been postponed until August due to Covid-19.

The show is made up of several segments including lessons, storytime and pantomime sketches.

Past shows have shown children how to make puppets and how to identify critters in the garden.

James plays a character named Dame James who he described as bubbly and fun.

“We hope to bring some light and humour during these dark times,” the 33-year-old continued.

“This is a really confusing time for children.

“They don’t understand why they can’t go out and I hope this show can bring them a sense of normality and routine.”

The pantomime show is live on Facebook from 9am every Saturday morning and also uploaded to YouTube afterwards for those who want to watch it later.

So far the videos have been popular and have been gathering thousands of views.

James said: “This Saturday the show’s theme is magic.

“We will have a magic show from Daniel Lewis, Justin Lee will be doing a segment on the magic of cinema and I will be firing Uncle Phil out of a canon.”

As well as the live show there will also be pre-recorded sketches and songs from the touring companies' previous performances.

You can watch the show here.

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