About Take Your S.E.A.T.

I’m Keith Watts and every year, I have had the pleasure of directing the Syresham Panto!

It’s been that way since 1997. I blame a summer evening in The Kings Head for changing my life from May until February, for over 25 years.

It was towards the end of a pleasurable evening of drinking, involving several pints of ale, when somebody suggested that it’s about time Syresham put on a pantomime in the village hall.

Then by some drink-related reasoning it was decided that I was the man to do it … being that I worked as a television cameraman … which is a bit like saying the local butcher could do a spot of brain surgery because he cuts up meat! Why me? I knew nothing about theatre! Anyway … I said “yes”.

So, in 1997, I formed Take Your S.E.A.T. (By the way … SEAT stands for Syresham Entertainment And Theatre … and NOT a Spanish car!)

We had a grand total membership of ONE … me!

I took the decision to put on Cinderella  for our first pantomime … as it was a safe bet, then bought a script, which I re-worded for Syresham. I finally managed to force … er … persuade a few mates to be in it, who promised me they would ‘have a go’.

This was probably due to ‘beer talk’ … because as soon as I mentioned we needed two people to dress up as women, I ended up with no cast as my mates were suddenly busy??

I needed a trusty right hand man. I was told that the local butcher in the village at the time, was a bit of a card and liked to prance around singing songs to anyone who would listen. His name? Dave Gee!

Dave Gee

So, Dave produced and I directed Take Your SEAT’s first pantomime in 1998, of course it was Cinderella! It was a great success, packing out the Village Hall for three shows, performing on a stage of hardboard screwed onto a bed of milk crates. The stage was about nine inches high! I don’t think the audience at the back saw much!

Our first Panto … Cinderella 1998

I was very proud of that first show and it inspired me to carry on. I chose our second pantomime, Frankenstein the Panto, a random choice!  Although a good show, this was a bit of a disaster, as the village was expecting a traditional panto … and believe me, everyone let me know! As they do in Syresham! A lesson learnt as a director … know your audience. Syresham likes tradition … not experimentation!

Ian Wildman playing Frankenstein and was green for an entire week, as we didn’t know about make up then and certainly NOT how to get it off!  Bit embarrassing for poor old Ian at work!

Frankenstein the Panto 1999

For our 3rd show, we went back to tradition … Jack and the Beanstalk. For this show we made our first investment and bought a proper stage! It’s still in use now, although we have added several more modules.

Jack and the Beanstalk

In year 4, we performed Aladdin, with some surprise guests! The Syresham Singers!

Cinderella was our first panto we performed twice … the second time was for our 10th Anniversary Show in 2007. A decade later we had a different cast and certainly more skills … as these photo comparisons below, clearly shows … better stage sets, better costumes and better props and lighting.

Cinderella 2008

Dave and I went on to produce 12 wonderful pantomimes together and despite a few hissy, handbag arguments over the years, we kept improving … and we were a great team!

Right from the start I used my experience from working many years in television to install some professionalism into the company and we now put on shows that rival towns with proper theatre facilities. We have certainly moved on, since the milk crates!

Alas, the Keith/Dave duo has now given away to more of a team effort … which is a joy for me and Dave, as we used to do everything!

Today … Take Your SEAT is a fully constitutional amateur theatre company with the same values I initiated from the start …

• Number one rule … NO VILLAGE POLITICS
• Number two rule … NO CLICKY GROUPS

In other words … I refuse to let us become a typical Amdram group, full of self-important luvvies!

Now we have separate departments for costume, set design, lighting, props, sound, publicity, music and choreography … each with its own person in charge. This certainly eases the pressure on myself, as the productions get ever more ambitious!

We start each panto in September and rehearse twice a week until we are well and truly ready to perform five shows every mid-February.

Wixard of Oz 2023

Sleeping Beauty 2024

We rig over 40 LED lights to enable spectacular lighting effects These are controlled with a computerised lighting desk

We rig a surround sound system controlled by a 48 channel sound desk, using 15 radio mikes and playing over 100 sound effects.

We use local artists to design and paint our sets … plus village craftsmen build our props.

We design our own make up and costumes.

Our spectacular UV dance sequences have always been a popular with our audiences and they get more elaborate each time.

Today, we have now completed 25 pantos over 26 years and throughout that time the village of Syresham has always fully supported us. In fact over 7000 people have enjoyed watching our Pantos over the 25 years, coming from as far away as Australia to watch us!  …

… and over 1000 different people have participated, either onstage or backstage, in all our shows! Not bad for a village of around 650 population!

Syresham has an extraordinary number of talented people! Without them, we could never put on such professional shows.

And still my original concept is very much alive …

“Take Your SEAT makes shows for the village … made by the village”.

I have directed all 24 wonderful pantos and three Syresham Talent shows and despite my reticence in the early days, I have enjoyed every minute of it!

I have now made a difficult decision, to take a break and hand over the directing mantle to Steph Mitchell, who has been involved with TYS for many years and has been co-director for the last three out of four shows. We are in safe hands and Steph has successfully completed her first solo show, Sleeping Beauty in February 2024 … without me interferring!

Steph will be directing the next panto for 2025 and it will be Robin Hood.

I will be back in 2026 with Jack and the Beanstalk.

Come and see us every mid-February!