Sleeping Beauty Panto Rehearsals Get Underway In Greenock

The cast and crew of this year's Beacon Arts Centre panto, Sleeping Beauty (Image: George Munro)

Stars of stage and screen have arrived in Greenock ahead of the festive season as rehearsals get underway for the Beacon Arts Centre pantomime.

The glittering cast of Sleeping Beauty gathered at the venue for the first read through of the showstopping spectacular, which runs from December 4 to 31, with Bowman Rebecchi proud to sponsor again for the second year in a row.

BBC Still Game favourites Jane McCarry and Mark Cox return to the theatre for 2025 – and they can’t wait to see their Inverclyde fans again.

Jane, who played Isla on the hit TV comedy show, said: “We genuinely love performing here and the audience loves coming along. There are some people in the audience, who we first saw as wee babies, and we’ve seen them grow up every year, which is just lovely. The show will be full of fun and Christmas cheer and will be a great way for people to get into the Christmas spirit.”

Jane, who stars as the wicked sorceress Carabosse, said there will be some new elements in the show this time around.

She added: “There are some new people in the cast so people will see some new faces and some new dances. Mark and I are great at dancing, so we can’t wait for people to see that. I’m just hoping that Mark will learn all of his lines this year!”

Mark plays Slimeball. He said the audience will get ‘exactly what they want – and more’ from this year’s show.

He said: “There will be all of the familiar pantomime tropes that people love alongside some new faces, which will be very exciting. We have a few new faces and a new director and new choreographer, so the show will really ‘pop’ and ‘slay’! People who come along every year keep coming back. I’m just hoping that Jane will be on time this year.”

River City star Jimmy Chisholm said he’s thrilled to be in Greenock again. He added: “This is Christmas for me now. I want to wish everyone a fantastic Christmas.”

Last year, the Beacon smashed its panto sales record, and the team is hoping to do that again in 2025. A total of 20,729 people saw Jack and the Beanstalk in 2024, and the team want to go beyond 21,000 tickets sold this time around.

Tickets can be booked at https://www.beaconartscentre.co.uk/events/sleeping-beauty

Musical direction is by John Kielty, with choreography by Ross Logan. Audiences will be transported into a fairytale world of magical castles, bewitched spinning wheels, and an enchanted sleep that only true love’s kiss can break.

Written by panto stalwart Alan McHugh and directed by the award-winning Tony Cownie, the show stars audience favourites and familiar faces Lee Samuel and Shannon Swan, alongside newcomers Rachel Flynn and Charlie West.

Sleeping Beauty will be Tony Cownie's first experience of directing a Beacon panto. The 64-year-old renowned actor and director said the panto will be based on the familiar fairytale but will have a few surprises along the way.

Tony said: “I’m really excited to be working with such a wonderful company It’s a great story with a great heart.”

This article and image was featured in the Greenock Telegraph.