Working in the Following Genre:
Pantomime
Paul came to pantomime quite late, appearing in his first, 'Aladdin', at the age of 29. He was asked to play the dame and has done so for his local society, Encore Theatre Company, ever since. Probably like many pantomime writers before and since, Paul's first script wasn't due to a burning desire to commit words to page but more that the society were struggling to find a suitable script one year and so he teamed up with another member of the group, Sarah Dyson, to give it a go. The result was 'Once Upon a Time', an original story that incorporated some classic pantomime characters. Following that, Paul and Sarah collaborated on another two pantomimes, 'A Long Time Ago', basically Aladdin in space, and 'Happily Ever After', again an original story.
|
Paul has since produced two further pantomime scripts as a solo writer. 'The Good, The Bad and The Panto' was his attempt at setting a pantomime in the Wild West, again with an original story. The society decided they wanted a more recognisable property for their next production and so 'Drac and the Beanstalk' was his next effort. As the title suggests, it's the traditional story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' but with a vampiric twist. Since then, Paul has collaborated on a further two scripts for 'Cinderella' and 'Sleeping Beauty'. Although the classic stories are the meat and drink of pantomime, Paul's main interest lies in finding an interesting twist or approach to telling them to an audience, so they get to experience a story they know well but in a different way. |
Since being made available through Lazy Bee Scripts, the pantomimes have been performed all over the world, including those hotbeds of pantomime, Canada, New Zealand and the USA! Some have also been used as entries into pantomime competitions and 'The Good, The Bad and The Panto' won the national Young Farmers Club pantomime competition in 2015 for Whitley Chapel YFC.
Away from writing, Paul has directed all of his own pantomime scripts as well as musicals including 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Oliver' and 'Spend Spend Spend'. He still enjoys performing and does so every year in the pantomime but the addition of twin girls to the family limits the opportunities somewhat these days! |
|
|
|
|