A HISTORIC theatre has been nominated for best costume design for its recent pantomime of Beauty and the Beast.

Richmond's Georgian Theatre Royal’s 2021/2022 pantomime Beauty and the Beast has been nominated for Best Costume Design is the equivalent of the UK pantomime Oscars.

Over the Christmas period, The UK Pantomime Association sent out 46 judges to 207 pantomimes across England, Scotland and Wales to find the very best in festive entertainment.

Richmond’s historic theatre, which is well known across the region for its family pantomime, has been shortlisted along with four other venues in the Best Costume Design category.

The awards will be announced on Tuesday, April 19 at the Trafalgar Theatre in London’s West End hosted by actor Christopher Biggins and marks the inaugural awards from the UK Pantomime Association, which gained charity status in February.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have been nominated for this very prestigious award,” said Georgian Theatre manager and the pantomime’s writer and director, Clare Allen. “A huge amount of effort goes into creating the visual magic on stage, which includes so many different elements such as set design, lighting and costumes.

“Beauty and the Beast was an incredibly beautiful show and few will forget the fabulous costume creations, not least Belle’s amazing yellow ballgown, Lumiere’s ethereal candlelit suit, the magnificent Beast costume and the Dame’s striking traffic warden outfit and inventive chest of drawers creation,” she added.

The costumes, which included multiple outfits for all members of the cast and young company, were designed and made by the Theatre’s in-house production team led by principal costume designer Kim McDermottroe. Kim has almost 20 years’ experience in the industry and runs her own costume design company Greener Lavelle.

The Georgian Theatre Royal has been producing its own professional pantomimes since 2010 and in that time has built up a reputation for staging one of the best Christmas shows around. Sleeping Beauty was chosen by The Observer as one of its top festive shows of 2018, and in 2015, The Telegraph named the Theatre as the No.1 place to see a pantomime in the UK.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s pantomime, Pinocchio, which runs from Friday, December 2, 2022 until Sunday, January 8, 2023. Please visit www.georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk for online bookings or call the Box Office on 01748-825252.

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