The Panto Blog: How I secretly spent ££££££ of government money so pantomime could save the world

THE PRODUCER'S PARADOX

It was 2018, and we had just finished building the giant for Jack and the Beanstalk. It was enormous. We had started building it in the lean-to but had to move it into the kitchen when we could no longer squeeze round it to fit the costume. With the gargantuan body completely covering our dining room table, the only available surface to put the head on was the kitchen counter. We had to reach around it to scramble eggs.

Bertrand the Giant Bully in our very first panto

Although we had both made theatre shows before, and Will had been in a few pantos as an actor, we had never made a panto before. It was so exciting.

We had ambitiously scheduled 28 performances and, once word got round, it sold really well. You couldn't get a ticket by the end of the run. We were super proud.

But even without paying ourselves for sewing the costumes, building the set, writing the script, we barely broke even.

It turns out, it's hard to make a profit in a house with a capacity of 160.

The next year we rented a room at the top of a mill and bought ourselves an overlocker. We couldn't afford to buy or rent anything, so instead we spent months making costumes and set. We even had a light up portal. It felt like a real step up.

We put on more shows, sold more tickets, and made just about enough to buy an industrial sewing machine.

Each year the shows got bigger and better with more performances, grander costumes, wigs and sets, more ambitious illusions and sequences. Little by little, with the support of the venues, our friends and collaborators (you know who you are!), we built our company until this year we produced 124 performances of 3 shows across 4 venues and sold at 88%, 97%, 72% and 94% capacity.

Aladdin 2023
at The Met, Bury

Rumpelstiltskin 2023
at Festival Drayton and the Millgate Arts Centre

Alfie the Elf 2023
at the Bolton Octagon

AND....

🥁

DRUMROLL...

🥁

...

🥁

We broke even!

🥁

The problem is: as the shows have grown, so has the whole operation that underpins it. Nowadays we operate from a 3000 sq ft workshop with industrial racking stacked with sets and puppets, a flying carpet, industrial tools, a hoard of 800 costumes... we even have a separate lock up with the Robin Hood set from Salisbury in it.

The Robin Hood set from Salisbury would not have fitted in our kitchen!

I can barely believe how much stuff we've accumulated - really good quality stuff as well - that's just sitting there.

"If only we could turn it into some kind of income," I pondered...

TWO TYPES OF PANTO COMPANY

There are two types of panto companies. Companies that make and companies that rent. We make. It's the only way we could afford our production values.

Look up any panto company that makes it's own stuff and 9 times out of 10 they'll have a page on their website that says something like:

We have sets and costumes available to hire. If you're interested in renting from us, please send an email to producer@pantocompany.com

Which is OK, if you know who they are, what they've got and what you need.

"We should do that," we agreed. Then we daydreamed of something a little bit grander:

Something Grander by The Big Tiny (excerpt)

Act 1: Scene 1

Ben:    Wouldn't it be great if it had browsable pictures of all the stock?
Will:    Yes... and it kept track of what's going where -
Ben:    - and it was integrated with a merchant portal so people could hire it online?

Pause. Ben and Will look at each other.

Will: How much would that cost?
Ben: I don't know. I'll find out.

Phones software developers.

Ben:    Tens of thousands of pounds.
Will:    We don't have any money.
Both:    Bugger.

Exit, pursued by a bear.

I knew we weren't the only people in our position. Other producers I've hired to/bought from all say the same: we've got lots of stuff that we made for productions but we can't use again because now once you've staged a show at all of your venues you've got to wait 6 years before you can do the same title again. And it's not just producers - we have plenty of mates who play dame paying hundreds of pounds for a lock-up to house their collections of costumes and wigs. Every year, up and down the country, we're all ending up with more and more stuff, and nobody knows what to do with it.

It's wasteful
It's expensive to store
It's a missed opportunity

Of course, we'd all love our own hires portal, one that catalogues all of our stock, that lets other professionals browse though and hire from us - if someone else had one, you'd have a nose through, wouldn't you? Maybe they've got something amazing that you could hire... it would be cheaper than making it... and quicker.

A pipe dream. I mean... where would you even begin?

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

In January 2023, we teamed up with a software developer and registered a new company with the sole purpose of making an industry-wide platform for theatre professionals to hire stock between themselves. Our aim was to provide a user-friendly tool that enables greener theatre production by connecting creatives and pooling our resources.

Supported by significant funding from the UK Research and Innovation Council, we have spent the past year doing just that. The platform is called:

and we are launching it on Monday, 15th January.

It's been a labour of love to get everything ready, but ready it is.

Currently it works through a website (the app is still in development), but professional theatre practitioners can sign up for free at:

www.pursuedbybear.co.uk

and as of tomorrow new users will be able to upload their stock, browse other people's stock, check availability and hire.

The portal is point and click so it's easy to use (if you can use eBay, you can use Pursued By Bear). You can search using keywords, sizes, character, available dates etc...

Oh - and if you're worried about hiring your stock to the great unwashed - don't worry, we've set up a vetting procedure, so you can be sure that the people you're hiring your precious costumes to are legitimate practitioners and not someone on a stag-do.

As is the case with all these things, somebody has to be first, so I got a few of our fantastic actors in, hired a photographer and spent a couple of days snapping away in our workshop.

I uploaded my stock onto the portal last week (big shout out to Ian and Nancy who have been helping test the site and the processes!). As of tomorrow, if you fancy a nose around The Big Tiny's stockroom, you can do so at your leisure: bonus points to anybody who hires something!

Here's a sneak peak of some of our catalogue.

You don't have to have your stock professionally photographed to get going. If you want to dip your toe in, just get your phone out, snap a few items you think might be popular, upload them, and see how you do.

Registering, uploading your stock and browsing the portal is all entirely free. The costs of the portal will be covered from a charge on completed transactions.

You can read all about the company and our mission as well as answering any FAQs about the platform at www.pursuedbybear.co.uk, where you can also sign-up to our newsletter available now. As ever, if you've got any questions, please ask.

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