Kellie Shirley Will Star In The Fairfield Halls' Annual Pantomime SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

UK Productions and BH Live have announced casting for this year's enchanting pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which will play at Fairfield Halls in the Ashcroft Theatre from 13 December 2024 – 05 January 2025, with a press performance on Sunday 15 December at 3pm.

Poor Snow White is doomed to live unhappily ever after with her horrid stepmother, the Wicked Queen. In true rags-to-riches style, Snow White manages, with the help of her madcap friend Muddles, to meet a handsome Prince and make her dreams come true.

With a beautiful princess, a jealous Wicked Queen, seven bumbling dwarfs, a naughty nurse, a hilarious jester and not forgetting a poisoned apple and a magic mirror, it's not to be missed! Bursting with great songs, stunning dance routines and plenty of laughter, this is a truly magical treat for all the family. This festive extravaganza is on sale now so book your seats today to see Croydon's must-see Christmas show in 2024.

EastEnders, Biff and Chip, and Casualty star Kellie Shirley will play the role of ‘Wicked Queen'. Kellie has enjoyed a varied and versatile career to date working alongside some of the most exciting and established international and UK based talent. Kellie is best known for playing the popular character of ‘Carly Wicks' in over 200 episodes of Eastenders, and to younger viewers as Mum in three series of the favourite CBBC programme Biff and Chip. She has recently joined the BAFTA-winning Casualty as new series regular, psych nurse ‘Sophia Peters'.

Kellie began her career via The BRIT school and made her UK screen debut in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Clerkenwell Films) and has appeared in feature films Wimbledon (Working Title), Heidi (Piccadilly Pictures), King of Thieves (playing Jim Broadbent's daughter), Terrance Davies' feature Benediction (Emu films), Bull (Signature Films), and the soon to be released Odyssey (Electric Shadow/Stigma) and Blockhead (Half-life). Other television work for the BBC includes featured roles in Death in Paradise, Call The Midwife, mini-series Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Joe all Alone as well as The Office Christmas Specials and as ‘Mum' aka ‘Mrs Robinson', in the returning children's series Biff and Chip. For Channel 4, her recent work includes mini-series Murder in the Carpark and True Horror and as Jean in series three of Meet the Richardson's. For ITV she has worked on Ridley, Lewis and Murder City. Kellie's favourite job to date has been playing Kirsty De La Croix opposite Bill Bailey, in Sky/Starz retuning comedy series In the Long Run - created and starring Idris Elba.

For theatre Kellie recently played Beverly in Mike Leigh's iconic play: Abigail's Party, which enjoyed a sold out run at The Park Theatre, London. Other notable roles include The National Theatre's State of the Nation play: Great Britain, Ophelia in Hamlet at Stafford Open-air Theatre, Luchetta in The Rover for the RSC, Nancy in Oliver Twist at the Lyric Hammersmith, Ginger in The Miracle at The National Theatre and she performed in over 700 shows as Pauline, in the critically acclaimed and much loved One Man, Two Guvnors for The National Theatre at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End.

Kellie said, “I'm thrilled to be channelling my inner Wicked Queen for Croydon's panto this year - as a local girl, I can't wait to be back in my old stomping ground again for Snow White.”

Joining Kellie is Jamie Steen , who will play the role of ‘Dame Dilly Donut'. Jamie has extensive stage credits around the UK, and is a panto stalwart, with this his 32nd year of appearing in pantoland, and then years as part of the UK Productions family. Jamie comes to Croydon after two years playing the Dame at the Pavilion Theatre in Bournemouth.

Jamie said “I'm over the moon to be coming to Croydon this Christmas as Dame Dilly in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Born and raised in South East London, I'm especially excited to be appearing at the Fairfield Halls, as it's my local theatre. Looking forward to coming home for Christmas and strutting my stuff and fashion sense to all the Croydonians!"

Panto favourite Charlie Guest will return to Fairfield Halls this year as ‘Muddles'. Charlie's many stage credits include Beauty and the Beast (Gravesend), Aladdin (Churchill Theatre, Bromley) Jack and The Beanstalk (Sunderland Empire), Aladdin (Anvil, Basingstoke) Snow White (King Georges Hall, Blackburn) Jack and the Beanstalk (King Georges Hall, Blackburn) and ‘Wishee Washee' in Fairfield Halls' 2023 pantomime Aladdin. Other notable stage roles include Children of Eden (West End), Club Class (UK Tour) and Jubilee (Tabard Theatre, London). Charlie is also a presenter for an online children's TV channel - Cheeky Chimps TV.

Charlie said, I'm so excited to be returning to Fairfield halls for my second year. This time for the fairest Panto of them all! I can't wait for the music, the chaos and I really fancy a bite of that juicy red apple!”

On behalf of UK Productions, Producer Martin Dodd added, “We are delighted to be returning to Fairfield Halls after two fabulous Christmas pantomime seasons with Peter Pan and Aladdin.I couldn't be happier that Kellie, Jamie and Charlie have joined the cast. Kellie is known to TV viewers both young and old from her many films and series, Jamie is one of the country's top dames and Charlie is a comic actor that the Fairfield audiences took to their hearts last year and always brings plenty of laughs. We can guarantee audiences the most wicked of pantomimes but watch out for those apples!”

The creative team will include Sarah Redmond, who returns to direct at Fairfield Halls, following Aladdin in 2023 and Peter Pan in 2022, with Anthony Whiteman as choreographer.

Fairfield Halls is managed by registered charity and social enterprise BH Live. On behalf of the team at Fairfield Halls, Steve Turner, Director of Venues added,

“Pantomime is a much-loved theatrical tradition during the festive period, and it's often the first introduction to theatre for many young people. We've continued to work with local schools and community groups across Croydon to enable more children to enjoy panto through closed school performances and our annual relaxed, accessible performance. We're thrilled our pantomime producer, UK Productions, has secured another great cast line up for our festive spectacular and we can't wait to Raise the Curtain on another magical panto season.”

Further cast and creative team will be announced in the autumn.

Not to be missed, tickets and group bookings are available from fairfield.co.uk  with special early bird rates and super schools offers also available.

Promoting accessibility and enabling more people to enjoy the magic of pantomime, there are also captioned (27 December 2024) relaxed (3 January 2025) performances.

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