Our Authors
About Amanda Hall
Amanda is an award winning freelance writer/director. Trained as a dancer, Amanda performed in many theatres across the East Midlands. She has worked for Sky on several info-commercials and has recorded with BBC Radio 2. Amanda worked for Nottingham Playhouse for many years including as movement director for their Christmas productions of The Hare & Tortoise and Princess and the Frog with the Playhouse Company.
Amanda first appeared in the pantomime Hansel & Gretel when she was just 7 years old and had a wonderful time. This followed with many years both as a dancer and then a choreographer in all the classic pantomimes from many great writers.
In 2012, Amanda was asked to write and direct Puss In Boots by The People’s Theatre Company. This in turn produced a film, Pantomime by Jeanie Finlay, released in 2014. Since 2012 she has also successfully brought Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood & the Babes in the Wood, Cinderella, Dick Whittington and Jack & the Beanstalk to the stage. Each and everyone of these pantomimes were award winning.
By 2018 Amanda joined forces with Nottingham Arts Theatre Ltd to not only write and direct but also to produce their annual pantomime. Beauty & the Beast was a superb hit, won a NODA Award for Best Pantomime and broke all previous box office records. It also started a collaboration of writing with Matt Wesson. Aladdin followed and repeated with a NODA Award for Best Pantomime and another increased box office. Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs was due to follow in 2020, but was unfortunately postponed due to Covid-19.
Amanda & Matt always look forward to spending time together, working on magic tricks, speaking in rhyme and laughing at their own jokes as they sit down to continue their script writing.
Welcome to the marvellous, magical world of pantomime and more...
Matt has been part of the local pantomime and theatre scene for over 20 years, having started in 1998, appearing as the ‘buttons’ character in Sleeping Beauty. The success of this led Matt into starting his own pantomime group called ‘Blue Balloon Productions’ who were recognised as one of the top award-winning amateur groups in Leicestershire.
After failing to find a suitably funny script to perform one year, and with the read-through fast approaching, it was suggested to Matt that he should try and write his own script. Forty-eight hours later, Matt’s first script was complete, and his pantomime Cinderella went on to win regional recognition at the Pantomime Alliance of Leicestershire Awards. Following the two further self-penned pantomimes Dick Whittington and Aladdin, Matt took a break from being directly involved with performances and joined the Committee of the Pantomime Alliance as well as being one of the lead actors of a professional touring murder mystery company, acting across the UK and Europe.
In 2016, Matt felt the need to return to stage and appeared as ‘Teen Angel’ in Grease at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. This is where Matt met Amanda and they realised their shared love of the theatre and especially pantomimes. That same year, Matt played his first Dame, appearing as ‘Sarah the Cook’ in Amanda’s pantomime Dick Whittington at the Nottingham Arts Theatre.
Matt wanted to develop his skills in production and direction and so under Amanda’s guidance, he joined the production team of Jack and the Beanstalk as well as appearing as the ‘Vegetable Fairy’ and in 2018, their collaboration progressed to writing scripts together in the form of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs.
Matt and Amanda thoroughly enjoy working together in the wonderful world of pantomime and have accrued a catalogue of award-winning scripts and productions which are now available for you to hire. They have once been described by a reviewer as the King and Queen of Nottinghamshire Pantomime…but we are yet to work out which is which!
About Matt Wesson
