Beauty and the Beast - The Hazlitt Theatre’s 2019 Pantomime Press Launch!
We were absolutely thrilled to be invited to the Hazlitt Theatre’s pantomime press launch for ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and could not wait to get stuck in with preparing our questions!
Being the budding presenter that our 6 year old lad dreams of being, (Literally daydreams of being) he decided he wanted to set the cast to some challenges, wanted to know what their favourite jokes and pranks were and used the excuse of presenting like he is his hero’s mini me, (Stephen Mulhern) and presented them with a game of his favourite TV show ‘Catchphrase’!
He has challenged Stephen Mulhern to Catchphrase before, and after realising even he needed help himself, wanted to see if other celeb’s were better at Stephen’s own game!
We arrived at a beautifully sunny Kent Life in Sandling, where the press event was being held, waited to board the land train and took off to our ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Cast destination. We were greeted by a line up of the fabulous cast wearing their wonderful costumes, and were full of smiles and warmly welcomed us with fist bumps and high fives.
After some photo opportunities, we were led into the event room where some delightful afternoon tea was beautifully presented, courtesy of The Village Hotel, Maidstone and Biddenden Vineyards supplied welcome drinks with their delicious Apple Juice and Sparkling Wines. Unfortunately, due to taking care of our lad, I was unable to sample the Sparkling Wine, but can highly recommend the Apple Juice, especially the Rose looking one that tricked my brain!
After some introductions, we were free to mingle with the cast and was delighted when both Danon (Jake Quickenden) and the Enchantress (Sarah Hopper) made a fast be-line for us! They seemed pretty taken with my lad and after explaining that we needed a quiet area to film, they were more than happy to lead the way!
Jake Quickenden - Danon
So first up, my TFKIK Mini Journalist got to interview the lovely Jake Quickenden, who plays Danon in this year’s panto. He had to face questions about his muscles, what his favourite Yoghurt was, had a press-up challenge to complete and Jake had absolutely no reservation when asked to play a game of ‘Catchphrase’! He actually said “This is the best interview I have ever had!”
We are massive fans of ‘X factor’ and ‘Dancing on Ice’ so when Jake took on the challenges so eagerly, I knew we were in for a memorable treat for my boy. Thank you x
“This is the best interview I have ever had!”
Martha-Frances Henry - Beauty
Next was ‘Beauty’, played by Martha-Frances Henry and yep, very well cast indeed, she is absolutely beautiful and has a very sweet nature! My boy actually swooned over her photo before he even met her … He even made a marriage proposal, which Martha seemed delighted to accept! (Don’t worry Martha, you are not legally bound!)
Mind you, the way you laughed at our lad’s jokes, I think you may be the only one for him!
William Hodges - DC
Next in line was William Hodges, who plays ‘DC’ William is actually a Maidstone boy, who attended The Hazlitt Theatre Youth Theatre for 6 years, so is very excited to be back on stage in his hometown Panto.
Again, William was challenged to some ‘Catchphrase’ and discussed some jokes! Welcome back to The Hazlitt Theatre William, we can’t wait to see you perform!
Sarah Hopper - The Enchantress
The lovely Sarah Hopper, who plays The Enchantress had a giggle with us over who in the cast she would turn into a frog, she had a very excitable game of ‘Catchphrase’ and seemed pretty pleased with my boy saying “you could take your family out for fun” when she won the (Imaginary) £500 on the bonus round!
After performing in many Theatres around the country and also aboard lovely Royal Caribbean Cruises, we are very pleased she has chosen Maidstone for this year’s Panto and can’t wait to see Sarah again on stage.
David Zachary - Djon
Last, but no means least, we spent some time with the very funny David Zachary, who plays Djon this year. David trained with The National Youth Theatre and National Music Theatre and has performed in many theatres around the UK and also in the U.S.
David’s time with us was very entertaining and welcomed our ‘Catchphrase’ challenge and joke telling, he told us all about his favourite prank he pulled, when a pal of his got married and offered my boy some entertainment for his birthday … Not sure if that was a free offer though?!
Sadly, we ran out of time to chat with Doc, Played by John Conway and Mademoiselle Marmalade, played by Ian Good, who was wearing the most fabulous Pantomime Dame Costume and Will Elliot, who plays the Beast was unable to make the press launch due to currently working somewhere exotic for Royal Caribbean Cruises.
“It’s the best thing I have ever done!”
Regardless, we had such a fantastic day and were buzzing afterwards. My lad said it was the best thing he has ever done and even though he has had his game show host obsession since the age of two, with the likes of Stephen Mulhern, Ant & Dec, Bradley Walsh and believe it or not, Pat Sharp thanks to discovering ‘Funhouse’ on Youtube, his interview experience has done nothing more than make him even more determined to make his dream of TV presenting a reality, so thank you to the wonderful cast for being so lovely and to the Hazlitt Theatre for making my little boy’s dream come true xx
We cannot wait to see your fabulous show and for Panto season to begin … Oh no we can’t!!!
To find out how our challenges went with the panto cast and to see out how many press up’s Jake Quickenden managed to do in 30 seconds, check out our video at the top of this page!
Beauty and the Beast is coming to Maidstone and is The Hazlitt Theatre’s brilliant Pantomime for 2019.
Performances are between 30th November – 31st December 2019 and you can book your tickets by clicking here!