So you have met the cast and now over to the creative brain behind it all – our Director Kay Young.
This will be Kay’s 11th stint in the panto director’s chair, and the 27th that she has been directly involved with, and she has a whopping 30 years membership of BATS under her belt (yes she is that old!)
Unless you’re connected with it, it is hard to comprehend the hard work and level of commitment it takes to put on a show, particularly of a scale like this. there is a small army of a team who support and without whom, it just could not happen.
Particular thanks to Gareth Griffiths Kay’s right hand man and assistant director and all round good egg, Katy Gardiner, who is not only our chair & title role, she’s choreographer and has assisted in so much of the on stage action too. And of course our resident machine Mel Wilcox, aka: superwoman, who is producer, stage manager and leading on set as well as all the tasks associated with group secretary. These guys are the backbone and we couldn’t do it without them and all the others who give their time and talent.
The 20 plus company of performers have been fantastic to work with and Kay gets especially excited to put newcomers on the stage and this year we are lucky to welcome 4 newbies to Bats, in principal roles, plus new people to our crew and chorus too.
Kay would also like to extend a special “welcome back” to both Dave and Kate Maltby who are again providing all of the tech side, the lighting and sound, they are a magnificent team.
Thanks also to The Hitchin and Sandy Dance Academy for providing wonderful students to perform in one of the scenes, they made their debut last year and were so fantastic we had to have them back.
All in all – cast and crew have done Kay proud and she hopes that you enjoy the show as much as she has enjoyed putting it together with this amazing team.