PARENTS aren’t usually known for taking instructions from their kids but it’s something that Bob and Ruth Willerton have grown used to when they take to the pantomime stage.
The couple both appear in Trinity Players’ pantomime Robin Hood and The Babes In The Wood, which is directed by their daughter Alice and begins its run at Trinity Theatre on Crookes Street tomorrow.
It’s not the first time that Alice - who is married to professional actor Dean Love - has taken the director’s seat from her father, who held the role in previous years, and the parents are now adjusting to this change of roles.
Familial connections run across the play, as Alice’s nieces Jessica and Heidi Love, aged 12 and nine respectively, are also cast members, while Steve Tasker, playing the panto’s dame, is joined by his daughter, Sophia Tasker-Smith, aged 11.
The youngest member of the cast, Lucia Crossland, is joined by her auntie, Toni Sherriff, while 15-year-old Jessica Batty plays Will Scarlett alongside her grandfather, Ian Harley, as Little John - the panto has also been choreographed by her aunt, Joanne Batty.
Alice said: “Pantomimes are family shows and ours have always enjoyed strong family connections.
“Trinity Players is the area’s longest established theatre group and was recently dubbed Barnsley’s friendliest in a BBC radio broadcast as a result of how it welcomes people with disabilities to the cast.
“It’s something we’re incredibly proud of and is welcomed by our wonderful audiences.”
