There will be a lot of Christmas cheer in Buckinghamshire this year as an amateur dramatic pantomime will take place in the country.

The West Wycombe Masque Players will perform Cinderella at the West Wycombe Village Hall between November 30 and December 2, with five shows being on offer.

Regular characters such as Prince Charming, Buttons, Dandini, and of course, the Ugly Sisters will all make an appearance,

Steve Rockell, who is one of the directors, said: “We were looking at pantomimes in about June/July time, did the casting in August and we began to rehearse at the start of September.

“We rehearse twice a week until production week so it’s six months of work, and we have already started to plan next year’s one, as you need to plan ahead.

“The panto is our [West Wycombe Masque Players] biggest money maker so to stay afloat, we rely on people coming in to watch the pantos.

“We must pay for the props, the hall, costumes etc so there are many outgoings.

“We don’t really get it coming in anywhere else.”

The director, who has been involved with the Masque Players for over a decade, has also encouraged members of the public to watch local amateur dramatic productions, as well as other theatre shows, to ‘help support the industry’.

In recent years, many schools have decided to cull subjects such as drama and theatre/production at GCSE and A-Level due to a lack of interest from pupils.

Additionally, theatre companies are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

He continued: “It’s so important to watch productions.

“I recently went to the Wycombe Swan to watch a show and it was half empty.

“It was very sad to see, the place was half empty, if that.

“With local theatre like am dram, people will come to see us and then go to a professional one and they said they loved ours more, as they feel more involved as they are closer to us.

“These aren’t just celebrities on stage, these are people performing to you and the kids love it.

“Also, there will be audience participation but we don’t target those that we know that won’t enjoy it.”

Next year will mark the Masque Players’ 80th anniversary since launching.

For more information about the production, go to www.masque-players.co.uk/next-production.

Production details:

Thursday, November 30 – 8pm

Friday, December 1 – 8pm

Saturday, December 2 – 11.30am, 3pm and 7.30pm