Chelsea Buckthorp

Following last year’s record breaking success with its production of Aladdin, the Lincoln Theatre Royal already looks set to have another fantastic pantomime season.

Cinderella takes to the stage on December 7 and due to soaring ticket sales they will be holding open the curtains for an additional week, taking their last bows on January 15.

Director Ian Dickens says that he wants to create a brand with his pantomimes, where each year you know exactly what you’re going to get and it will be fantastic.

The Lincolnite spoke to the cast to find out what makes our pantomime such a sell-out show.

Michelle Hardwick, who plays Cinderella said: “I’m very excited about playing Cinderella. I absolutely love Lincoln, I was here last year playing the princess in Aladdin and I couldn’t wait to come back.”

Best known for her role as Lizzie Hopkirk in the ITV 1 hospital drama, The Royal, Hardwick describes the excitement of playing the pantomime.

“The thing I love most about doing this is the interaction you get from the audience. The first day on stage when I hear the kids screaming it gives me a real Christmassy feeling.

“I must admit I have done a lot of pantomimes where I work with kids, often they can run a-muck but the children in Lincoln are the most well behaved children I have worked with in my career.

“They are absolutely fantastic, very professional, and another reason I love coming back to Lincoln.”

Nicola Weeks, who plays Prince Charming, explains that this is her ninth year of doing pantomime and has found a winning combination at Lincoln.

“The thing I love especially about doing panto at Lincoln is that it is kept traditional with, like I am, the girl playing the principle boy, whereas a lot of other pantomimes have that part played by a boy, which is silly because the crossing of the genders is a part of what adds to the comedy and the charm of the Pantomime.”

Local actor

This year the Lincoln is also proud to add some local talent to its line-up. Craig Hollingsworth, who plays Buttons, was born and bred here and studied performing arts at Lincoln College.

“It is fantastic to be back. Playing panto in your home town is like playing for you home football team.

“I remember coming here as a child thinking, I would love to be doing that. So when the opportunity to come to Lincoln to do the panto came up, it was too good to miss.”

Hollingsworth also admitted to being excited to work with the show’s legendary comedy duo.

“As a kid my granddad was a big fan of Cannon and Ball, we used to watch them on the video and on the Royal Variety show, so to be playing against them is amazing.”

For tickets or more information call the Theatre Royal Box Office on 01522 519999.

Photo: Chris Vaughan Photography

By Chelsea Buckthorp chelsea

Despite the government’s promise to put aside around £250 million to restore the weekly household waste collections across the country, City of Lincoln Council has decided to stick to its fortnightly collection service.

The council say that it isn’t something that tax payers in Lincoln have asked for, and suggest that there are other social services that are more in need of the additional money. They also stipulate that a weekly collection service could have an adverse effect on their bid to reduce Lincoln’s carbon footprint.

The Lincolnite asked what the city’s residents thought about their decision.

Tony Goldsmith, 45

“I think that they should go back to a weekly bin collection because of reasons of cleanliness and basic hygiene. There are lots of important things the council should be spending money on but I also think it is important to have the bins emptied regularly.”

Caroline Larcombe, 20

“I think it is a problem in houses where there are a lot of people, for instance I live with 5 other students and we get a lot of rubbish that needs taking away regularly. Otherwise it builds up and then you get rats. I mean there are obviously houses where there are only two people living there it might not need their rubbish taking away every week so maybe the council could send letters out to people to see who needs their bins collecting every week, then they could save money on the people who don’t need it and still collect it from the people who do.”

Alec Yahya, 27

“I think people can last two weeks without having their bins taken, so if there is something more beneficial that the council can be spending their money one then, definitely, I think that is a good idea. Also it makes people recycle more.”

Sharon, 43

“I think they should actually spend it on the bins. I have loads of waste, my bins are always overflowing, I live on my own and it still over flows over the fortnight. I never get told when it actually should go out, and I don’t know what should be going in the recycle bins really. They should make things clearer and collect the rubbish more regularly.”

Photo: Ryan Cullen

Chelsea studied English Literature at Kingston University London and has also completed a work experience placement at Morton’s Media. She loves reading, dancing and visiting National Trust sites.