Recorded live at The North Wall Arts Centre, a panel of top writers from across the country discuss excellent practice in pantomime script writing. Please note the original recording of this event was not available due to technical issues, instead we have uploaded the back up recording, and therefore apologise for the varying audio quality.
Scriptwriting Panel
Alex Jackson (Panel Chair & UKPA Trustee) Alex is a director and writer originally from Exeter based in London. He first caught the pantomime bug watching productions at the Exeter Northcott Theatre growing up. He has written pantomimes for Cheltenham Playhouse and The Blakehay Theatre, and licences scripts for amateur productions from www.alexjacksonpantomimes.com. Hundreds of productions of his scripts have been performed by amateur companies across the UK and internationally as far afield as Singapore, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Credits as Director for Pantomime include: Dick Whittington (Exeter Northcott Theatre); Beauty and the Beast (The Core Theatre); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple); Cinderella (Tour); Jack and the Beanstalk (Tour). As Assistant Director: Beauty and the Beast (Exeter Northcott Theatre); Buttons: A Cinderella Story (King’s Head Theatre).
Susie McKenna (UKPA Trustee): Susie has been an actor, writer and director for over 40 years working in theatre, nationally and in the West End, television and film. Susie has worked in pantomime throughout her career, playing her first principal boy at the age of 19 at Oldham Coliseum directed by Kenneth Alan Taylor, before going on to appear as principal boy at Nottingham Playhouse for 8 years. After writing and directing Hackney Empire’s first ‘in house’ pantomime, Dick Whittington, in 1988, Susie wrote and directed the critically acclaimed pantomimes there every year up until 2020’s 21st anniversary production of Dick Whittington, for which she won Best Director at the Great British Pantomime Awards. Since 2023, she has written and directed pantomimes at Broadway Theatre, Catford. Jack and the Beanstalk was nominated for Best Script at the UK Pantomime Awards and last year’s Sleeping Beauty won an OFFIE for Best Production. The 2025/26 show will be her Windrush Dick Whittington directed by Pete Rowe. This Christmas, Susie is writing and directing Aladdin at the newly refurbished Soho Walthamstow Theatre which opened earlier this year. Susie is a trustee for the UK Pantomime Association.
Toby Hulse: Toby Hulse is a playwright and theatre director based in Weston super Mare who specialises in work for families, young audiences and in educational contexts. He has created new work for theatres across the UK and has written four original pantomime scripts. He wrote Sleeping Beauty for Oxford Playhouse, Puss in Boots and Jack and the Beanstalk for Chipping Norton, and an immersive Jack and the Beanstalk for Southwark Playhouse. He is currently writing Dick Whittington for Oxford Playhouse and in those strange days post-Covid, he performed as Professor Brian Baggybottom in his own shows Oh Yes It Is! about the history and traditions of pantomime. Toby was part of the team that received this year’s Award for Innovation at the UK Pantomime Awards.
Vikki Stone: Vikki Stone is an award-winning writer, composer, comedian and musician, who has a rather unique set of skills in writing, classical music and musical theatre, as well as over 10 years on the road as a stand-up comedian. Vikki Stone’s writing credits include Cinderella and Aladdin for the Lyric Hammersmith, Sleeping Beauty and Dick Whittington for the New Wolsey Theatre, Peter Pan (music and lyrics) for Rose Theatre, Kingston, and Alice in Wonderland (music and lyrics) for Liverpool Everyman Playhouse. She was the co-adapter, writer and music supervisor for the Olivier Award winning Hey Duggee Live. This Christmas, she will write and direct Mama Goose at Theatre Royal Stratford East with Tonderai Munyevu. She will also write the lyrics alongside composer Robert Hyman. Vikki’s Aladdin for Lyric Hammersmith won Best Script and Best Pantomime (500-700 Seats) and the UK Pantomime Awards 2022. She was also part of a nominated for Best Pantomime (Under 500 Seats) in 2024 and was nominated for Best Script in 2025.
Jon Bradfield: After co-writing 12 adult pantomimes for Above The Stag Theatre with Martin Hooper (and writing the songs for seven of them), Jon Bradfield and his fellow creatives founded their company He’s Behind You! to continue their pantomime practice and bring it to a bigger audience. His shows for He’s Behind You! are Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick and Jack and the Beanstalk: What A Whopper, as co-writer and songwriter. Jon’s award-winning play Animal, developed with disability activist Josh Hepple, was produced in 2023 by the Park Theatre, London, and Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre.