PRESS RELEASE: Mayor, Claire Shea, joins the launch of the 2023 pantomime

Published: 07 September 2023

Sevenoaks Town Council has been a long standing behind the scenes enabler of the Stag, having taken it over in 2008 following another bankruptcy, operated for some time before transferring to an independent charity which operates the venue today with a small annual grant from the Town Council. The Town Council also stepped up, with the help of the local community and pantomime cast, in raising funds to help see the venue survive the pandemic. Since the Town Council re-opened the Stag one of the key success stories has been the annual professional pantomime.

This Christmas, the Stag Theatre is celebrating fifteen years of panto! Silly Billy and Dame Trott will be taking theatre goers on a giant adventure up the beanstalk, in a fun filled fantastic pantomime that has earned the reputation as being one of the best in the South East. 

The much-loved panto duo Silly Billy (Ant Payne) and Dame Trott (Jamie Alexander Wilson), will be joined by West End performers Rosie Glossop (Kinky Boots, Pricilla Queen Of The Desert) as Fairy Peapod, and Mark Goldthorp (Mary Poppins, Sister Act), as the evil Mouldenfly. Ellie Mills, who previously played Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island at the Stag, returns to play principal boy Jack Trott. 

In September, some of the cast of this year’s Sevenoaks Panto were in town to meet the Mayor Of Sevenoaks, Cllr Claire Shea, and also dropped into the Stag’s neighbouring restaurant, Number 8, to sample the Christmas set menu that will be available to audiences before and after shows, which run from 8-31 December.