A Beauty of a panto ...

From the cafe to the foyer to the box office they make full use of the Adam Smith Theatre - their home for the rest of the year. The sound of Christmas carols and crackers being pulled can be heard as they work with the photographic and social media teams pulling together the content that will help to fill the seats on a nightly basis.

Opening night is December 4 and performances run right through to December 30.

Colin Little, Scott Watson, and Kim Shepherd head up this year’s cast as the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty is brought to life on stage.

Scott plays Daft Duncan of Dysart and will be at heart of the comedy and slapstick - and that’s great fun.”

A veteran of nine years of panto across Scotland as well as working on cruise ships and holiday parks, Scott knows what lies ahead is a full-on month of action on stage, with some days packing three shows in back to back.

“The challenge is to give audiences something they haven’t seen before,” he said. “We are really lucky that we have a great team here and the freedom to give our input into what might work.

“Going on stage every night to perform is great. The world’s a pretty horrid place just now and everyone has their own hardships, so to give them two hours where they can park their problems at the door and have nothing but fun with their kids and not worry about anything - that’s our job.” Scott swapped courses at university to study musical theatre and hasn’t looked back. His hero was the late Gerard Kelly, one of the country’s great actors and a legendary panto performer, and his season saw him work with Stanley Baxter’s understudy.

“His knowledge was incredible and there was so much to learn - he taught me simple tricks of the trade. You don’t realise how big panto is until you start doing it.” he recalled. “It is full on and what you do in the space of six weeks is what some companies get over three or four months to prepare for.”

Matinees and evening shows can be augmented with 11:00am curtain calls for morning shows which make for exceptionally long days. Scott makes the commute from his home in Ayrshire - and that time comes in very handy.

“You can’t go into this half asleep,so the drive though gives me the head space to prepare me for the show. On days with three shows the turnaround time is very quick - off stage, quick bite to eat and you are back on again, but as soon as you step back out on stage and hear the audience it is amazing.

Panto is also in the blood of director Mairi Cowieson. She has worked with Imagine for the past 11 years and Adam Smith is more than just a second home at this time of year.

“It’s my fifth year here. I’m local - I was born here and although I stay down south this is till my home,” she said. “It is important the panto has local roots. We have an all-Scottish cast and Sleeping Beauty was written by a Fifer. It has everything a good Fife panto should have.”

Those ingredients include comedy and slapstick, songs and a great story.

“It is really important that we tell a story. It is a huge part of the show - that’s what captures the imagination. Audiences have to all in love with the main characters. We have to keep that magic alive. We’re all looking forward to opening night - there will be lot of energy and excitement. It is always good - and it is great to get the reaction from the audience to see how all the hard work has paid off.”