Following last year’s immersive production of A Christmas Carol, Electric Press Productions take over East Riddlesden Hall, a historic National Trust house, to present Cinderella: An Immersive Pantomime Experience. We spoke to Samantha Creswick, Co-Founder of Electric Press Productions, about what makes this production so unique.
Tell us about Cinderella: An Immersive Pantomime Experience – what makes it even more immersive than a typical pantomime?
“In a word – the setting! We had been talking about doing a pantomime with an Electric Press “twist” – really repeating the formula of our wildly successful A Christmas Carol, and that completely crystallised for us when we saw East Riddlesden Hall. I wasn’t actually at the first site visit so I still have the video from Emily, our Director, where she says “do you want to see your venue for Cinderella?” as she turns on the camera – we both knew instantly that it was the perfect place to do this.
You begin Act I in the Great Barn, which is a 17th Century barn preserved just as it was four hundred years ago, and it really feels like walking through time when you enter it. It even still has original carts, which we’ve had to have checked by a wheelwright!
And then for Act II, the audience moves with Cinderella into the beautiful Airedale Barn, which has been totally renovated and is now usually reserved for weddings. So you literally move through Cinderella’s journey with her from this very authentic barn into the ballroom! It’s truly like being in your own fairytale.”
How have you balanced the unique Electric Press style with pantomime tradition?
“We have been talking a lot in the writer’s room about “elevated pantomime”. We wanted to keep the recognisable elements of pantomime – the dame, the stock jokes, etc. – while also adding real production value and heart to the story and performances. At times I think this is a show that is going to feel like it punches far above its weight – which is, interestingly, feedback we’ve had about a few of our productions!
I’m going to name drop somewhat shamelessly now, but while we have been working on this show in the last month our director Emily was opening Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for its revised 10th anniversary production on the West End, our writer Calum Finlay was opening The Lives of Others starring Keira Knightley on the West End, and our Musical Supervisor Ben Barrow was opening Little Shop of Horrors at the Hope Mill Theatre, which has also been featured at West End Live. So, there is some really intense artistic credibility on this team, with a group of creatives hitting their stride and some career peaks that most can only dream of. The audience will definitely feel all of that pedigree in what they’ve created here, which they’ve managed to do without compromising on that classic pantomime silliness. This is a seriously impressive needle to thread – I am a bit in awe of them!”
Is there a moment of the production you’re particularly excited for audiences to experience?
“Without giving too much away, I am particularly excited for our Fairy Godmother. Firstly, it was such a coup to be able to work with the immensely talented Elle Vosque. I hope many of her Drag Race fanbase will come and watch her in this, because you get to see a whole new dimension of her many, many talents at work in bringing this character to life.
Our Act I finale features Elle using her fairy powers in the classic Cinderella transformation, and it truly does feel a little bit like real magic. I also have the honour of having found and selected the song for this moment – and it’s quite rare for a Producer to have had some creative input that anyone thought was worth listening to! – so I am quite proud of that and hope the audience think it’s as perfect as I do.”
Cinderella is always the most popular pantomime title. Why do you think that is?
“I think it’s reflective of the fact that Cinderella is one of our most culturally popular story structures full stop. Once you tune in to that and start looking for it it’s almost unbelievable how many of the stories we know and love are Cinderella retellings under the hood – everything from Pretty Woman to the latest season of Bridgerton!
And that, I think, speaks to a real love of any narrative that shows you can take hold of your own destiny and change your life in one magical night. Which is, of course, particularly appropriate for the theatre, which is all about creating this wonderful, transformative shared experience in the space of one evening together.”
What is your earliest memory of pantomime?
“My family and I have attended the Harrogate Pantomime together every year since I was born, and we also usually attend the pantomimes at the Carriageworks and the Leeds Grand as well, so they almost bleed into each other! It’s like asking me my first memory of my mother, it’s so intrinsic to my experience and consciousness that it’s almost impossible to pick anything out specifically! We’re huge panto people, so I am particularly excited for my family to see this show. In many ways, I’m doing this as a love letter to them and the wonder of my childhood.
That said, I vividly remember going to see Aladdin, the Rock ‘n’ Roll pantomime at the Leeds City Varieties as a young girl and being very entertained watching my brothers punt the “boulders” that they roll out over the heads of the crowd!”
What are some of your future ambitions for Electric Press?
“There’s a very simple mission statement for Electric Press, and I don’t tend to advertise it for fear of being thought a little bit delusionally grandiose, but we want to create a theatrical centre in the North of England – and Yorkshire in particular – that has the same global cultural cachet as the West End. You should not have to go to London to be taken seriously as a creative in this country, and if I can contribute to that culture ending then I will consider that a life well-spent.
That means creating the conditions required for theatre to thrive here, and it means creating a culture of regular theatregoers – and that’s a challenge in communities that have often been told that theatre is “not for them”. If you look at the locus of where a lot of Electric Press’ work has been to date, those are the communities we’re happiest to be working with, and it’s why a lot of our work happens outside of traditional theatres.
Of all the successes Electric Press has had to date – our award nominations and wins, our coverage in the national press, etc. – my biggest moments of feeling like we’re doing the right thing are when people tell us that they have started going to the theatre because of us, or that one of our shows has become their new annual tradition. One little boy in Keighley started attending a drama class for the first time in his life and wants to be an actor because he saw our A Christmas Carol. These are the big wins, in my view. And with that in mind we have some really exciting projects and initiatives coming up, and I wish I could talk about them more, but I can’t yet – watch this space!”
Why should families add Cinderella: An Immersive Pantomime Experience to their festive plans this year?
“I feel like I say this about all our shows but you genuinely won’t be able to find anything else like this. This is a unique, magical experience.
Some of the nation’s top theatrical creative talent meets a fresh and energised up-and-coming production company that’s deeply embedded in the local community, staging a brand new show with access to one of the region’s most beautiful National Trust properties? It feels like a no-brainer to me!
Christmas is an expensive time of year, and I hope that our audience puts their faith in us to deliver them and their families something that will be truly affective. We know our audience, because we are that audience. At heart, we’re still just two little girls from Yorkshire who find our greatest wonder in the theatre!”
Cinderella: An Immersive Pantomime Experience runs at East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley from 4th to 23rd December 2026.
