Sunderland Empire pantomime: Su Pollard announced as Wicked Queen as panto returns

Su Pollard as the Wicked Witch in 2014. © COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH: EGGSHELL BLUE / DIRK VAN DER WERFF 2014

TV legend Su Pollard is set to cast a spell over Wearside as the Wicked Queen this Christmas.

The entertainer will be playing the Wicked Queen in Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs when panto returns to Sunderland Empire from Friday, December 10 2021 – Sunday, January 2, 2022.

Su will join the previously announced Miss Rory, aka Dan Cunningham, from Newcastle’s Boulevard club, who will star as the hilarious Nurse Rorina, as well as South Shields comic Tom Whalley as Muddles the Jester.

The 2020 panto was unable to take place due to the pandemic, so Sunderland Empire theatre director Marie Nixon say it’s great to be bringing back the festive tradition for 2021.

"We are absolutely thrilled that Su will be joining both Dan and Tom this pantomime season. She really is a legend of stage and screen and when Su was last in our pantomime the audience took her to their hearts, just like they did for Dan and Tom in 2019,” she said.

“It's going to be comedy gold - we really can't wait for families to experience it this Christmas."

The pantomime is set to be one of the highlights of the 2021 / 2022 season after the Empire was finally able to raise its curtain once more earlier this month after 18 months closed to audiences.

Su, who rose to fame on Opportunity Knocks, and as Peggy in the BAFTA award-winning sitcom Hi-De-Hi, has appeared on the Empires stage many times, including as the Wicked Queen in Snow White in 2014.

She’s a veteran of pantos around the country appearing in Pinocchio, Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Dick Whittington, Babes In The Wood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and Cinderella.

Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs is produced by Martin Dodd for UK Productions, the company which has produced recent productions including Peter Pan in 2018 and Cinderella in 2019.

*Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs is at the Sunderland Empire from Friday 10 December 2021 – Sunday 2 January 2022. Tickets priced from £13 are available in person at the Box Office on High Street West, from the Ticket Centre on 0844 871 3022 or online atwww.ATGtickets.com/Sunderland

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