SLEEPING BEAUTY TAKES A PRICK! to Open Charing Cross Theatre in 2023

The team behind the Above the Stag pantos, London's most popular and acclaimed pantomimes for grown-ups will present their biggest show yet in 2023. Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick! is the first production from He's Behind You!, the company founded by the team behind Above The Stag Theatre's phenomenally successful run of queer adult pantos.

It will play at the Charing Cross Theatre from 23 November 2023 to 13 January 2024.

Press night: Wednesday 29 November, 2023 at 7.30pm

Journey back in time to the tiny kingdom of Slutvia and a 21st birthday ball, where the haughty but horny widowed Queen Gertrude is on the prowl for a husband, and her son Prince Beauty searches for the boy of his dreams. When he stumbles on a prick in the palace garden, both queens get more than they bargain for - and wake up in a modern world where the palaces are run by the National Trust and the man of your dreams is somewhere on Grindr...

Sublimely silly and staggeringly rude, Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick! is a fabulous festive treat bursting with big laughs, sensational songs, colourful sets and all the panto trimmings!

Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick! is written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper with original songs by Jon Bradfield. It will be directed by Andrew Beckett and produced by Oli Sones for He's Behind You! Ltd. Matthew Baldwin - loved and a little feared by audiences for his unforgettable dame roles - will play Queen Gertrude.

Other regular ATS panto talents on board include set designer David Shields (Heathers The Musical, West End), lighting designer Jamie Platt (The last Five Years, West End; Jellyfish, Bush Theatre and National Theatre); and orchestrator and musical director Aaron Clingham (Grindr: The Opera, Above The Stag).

The team's Christmas shows place gay characters front and centre in much-loved fairytales, adventures and legends. Their most recent, Dick Whittington: A New Dick In Town, played 70 performances last winter. Widely acknowledged as a highlight of the festive theatre season and the most successful alternative pantomime series in the country, the team's irreverent and inventive shows have played packed-out runs of more than 50 performances each year, building a large and loyal audience and winning critical acclaim, as well as praise from stars including Ian McKellen and Graham Norton.

There will be 50 seats priced at £25 at every performance.

Jon Bradfield & Martin Hooper

Jon and Martin wrote 12 pantomimes for Above The Stag Theatre, including Dick Whittington, A New Dick In Town, and Mother Goose Cracks One Out. Their other collaborations include the sell-out musical He Shoots, He Scores!; Stonewall-era drama A Hard Rain; and for December 2022, Ghosted: Another F***ing Christmas Carol (The Other Palace, London). Jon's play Animal, developed with disability activist and equality trainer Josh Hepple, won the inaugural Through The Mill Prize, was shortlisted for the Papatango Prize, and will be produced in spring 2023 by the Park Theatre, London and Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. Jon wrote Missing Alice for BBC4 and the Old Vic, part of Mark Gatiss' Queers series, with Rebecca Front as Alice. He was the lead writer on the West End drag panto Cinderella starring Drag Race UK finalist Baga Chipz. He wrote the forthcoming TV movie Romantic Friction which will be distributed globally in 2023.

Andrew Beckett

Andrew Beckett was Associate and then Artistic Director at Above The Stag Theatre, helming a string of hits including nine pantomimes, an award-winning production of Grindr: The Opera (Winner: Best New Musical, Off West End Awards) and a revival of Jonathan Harvey's Boom Bang-A-Bang. At Theatre Royal Windsor he directed Handbagged, Dial M for Murder, Relatively Speaking and Joking Apart, and he has directed classic plays of all genres for Paul Taylor Mills' rep seasons in Sidmouth.

Oli Sones

He's Behind You was founded to bring alternative, adult pantomime into the West End. It is a collaboration between the creative team behind London's best-loved adult pantomime series and producer Oli Sones. Oli has produced A Chorus Line at the London Palladium; Wasted at the Southwark Playhouse; 46 Beacon at The Hope Theatre and Trafalgar Studios; Another America and Dark Tourism at the Park Theatre. He was associate producer on Taken at Midnight at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. He has produced major musicals in Singapore, Malaysia, Monaco, Tel Aviv and Slovenia and the international tour of Joan Collins Unscripted. He has produced cabaret shows in London and New York.

Matthew Baldwin

Matthew has appeared in eight Above The Stag pantomimes; in two seasons of family panto at the Queen's Theatre, Barnstaple; and in the nude in 46 Beacon at the Hope Theatre, Islington. At Trafalgar Studios he performed The Act, a play for one actor which he wrote with Thomas Hescott. It was recently made into a short film starring Samuel Barnett. He and Tom also wrote Outings, which enjoyed a successful run at Edinburgh featuring Simon Callow, Mark Thomas, Jim Davidson and many others. It also toured and was performed at the Lyric Theatre in the West End. Screen work includes Riviera (Sky Atlantic), the Michael Winterbottom movie Greed (BBC), short film The Dark Room opposite David Mitchell and Miles Jupp; EastEnders (BBC) and The Crown (Netflix). Matthew wrote "I Miss The War", an episode of Mark Gatiss' Queers series for the BBC and the Old Vic, and is developing TV drama Max's House for Balloon Productions.

Website: https://www.sleepingbeautytakesaprick.com

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