More than 800 school children saw last year’s Cinderella panto for free at the King’s Head Theatre

A THEATRE in Angel is hoping to give 2,000 free tickets to local school children to attend its end-of-year pantomime.

Formerly above a pub on Upper Street and now based in the swish Islington Square development, the King’s Head Theatre has launched a “Pay It Forward” initiative, asking local people and businesses to donate so Islington children can get free or subsidised tickets to its Christmas pantomime.

CEO and executive producer Sofi Berenger said: “There used to be funding for kids to come and see performances, and more funding directly to theatres too.

“But because there have been a lot of funding cuts to both education and the arts, the kids are really feeling the effects.

“Theatres are making decisions not to produce shows for kids anymore because there isn’t enough money out there to bring the kids in.

Sofi Berenger

“Islington is also a very divided borough economically, so the funding cuts we’re experiencing disproportionately impact low-income families.”

KHT piloted the initiative last year, raising £5,000 – including a donation from Dame Judi Dench – for 855 school children to see panto-writing veteran Andrew Pollard’s production of Cinderella.

This time they’re upping the ambition, hoping to raise twice as much money to fund children’s tickets to Jack and the Beanstalk.

Ms Berenger said: “I think we have a moral obligation to deliver cultural activities for these kids as a society. If the government aren’t going to help us deliver that then we have to find other ways of doing it. We’re doing our absolute best – and hopefully this can help make Christmas for those 2,000 children.”

There will still be adult-only performances, but they are almost identical to the children’s ones – in last year’s Cinderella, the only creative difference was the modesty of Prince Charming, who was fully clothed in the children’s performance and shirtless throughout for the grown-ups.

The theatre will be working with Islington Council’s 11by11 programme – aiming to give children 11 cultural experiences by the age of 11 – to deliver the scheme.