Redbridge's pop-up panto plays the Redbridge Drama Centre on 28 and 29 November and the Kenneth More Theatre foyer on 12 and 13 December. Tickets are £15.

Redbridge’s pantomime this year is Jack and the Beanstalk, staged by Redbridge Creates Theatre Company as an hour-long “Pop-Up Panto”. It plays two venues on two weekends, and the dates and prices are already on sale.

The reason it is a pop-up rather than a full production is the same reason it has been for three Christmases: the Kenneth More Theatre’s auditorium is still closed. The December performances happen in the theatre’s foyer instead.

Dates, times and prices

Every performance is £15.00, including the £1.50 theatre maintenance levy that Vision applies to its tickets. The 11am performance at the drama centre is listed as running to 12pm, so plan on about an hour.

Redbridge Drama Centre, Churchfields, South Woodford, E18 2RB

  • Saturday 28 November 2026: 11am, 1pm, 3pm
  • Sunday 29 November 2026: 11am, 1pm, 3pm

Kenneth More Theatre foyer, Oakfield Road, Ilford

  • Saturday 12 December 2026: 11am, 1pm, 3pm
  • Sunday 13 December 2026: 11am, 1pm, 3pm

Booking is through Vision’s box office at tickets.visionrcl.org.uk. The Ilford dates are listed as Pop Up Panto at KMT and the South Woodford dates as Pop Up Panto at RDC, which is easy to mix up when you are booking.

The show is the traditional story: Jack, his mother Dame Trott, a fairy, a golden goose and a giant, with songs, slapstick and audience participation. Vision describes it as an all-ages family show.

Last year the same pop-up panto was £12.50, according to Redbridge Council’s December 2025 programme. This year it is £15, a rise of £2.50 a ticket.

Why the panto is in a foyer

Redbridge Council closed the Kenneth More Theatre after reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, RAAC, was found in the building. The theatre was built in 1975, and the lightweight concrete used in it had degraded and had to be replaced. The council cancelled every show, including that year’s Jack and the Beanstalk, and processed refunds automatically. A council spokesperson told the Ilford Recorder at the time that there was “no like-for-like venue in the borough” and that it would commit to a Christmas show at the Redbridge Drama Centre instead.

The auditorium has not reopened. Vision’s own booking page for the Ilford dates still carries the line: “As this performance takes place in our Foyer it is unaffected by the current auditorium closure.” No reopening date has been published.

If a listings site sells you the Kenneth More Theatre as a working theatre with a main-house panto, it is out of date.

The rest of Redbridge’s Christmas stage programme

The drama centre’s Christmas show is not the panto. It is a musical, and it is the biggest thing in the December diary.

Elf Jr, presented by Redbridge Creates Youth Theatre Company at the Redbridge Drama Centre:

  • Friday 18 December, 7pm (listed as ending 8.30pm)
  • Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 December, 11am and 2.30pm
  • Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 December, 11am and 2.30pm
  • Thursday 24 December, 11am

Tickets are £18.00 full price, £16.50 concession for students, over-60s and people with additional access requirements, and a family ticket at £16.50 each for four, £66.00. Vision warns that latecomers will not be admitted.

Also on at the drama centre in December:

  • The Story of the Nativity, Friday 11 and Saturday 12 December, 7.30pm, £14.00. Seven actors play more than 50 characters.
  • A Celtic Christmas, Sunday 6 December, 2.30pm and 6pm. Carols and festive folk tunes performed by candlelight.

Two things to check before you book

The postcode on one listing is wrong. The Celtic Christmas page prints the drama centre’s address as “Churchfields, South Woodford, E17 2RB”. E17 is Walthamstow. The correct postcode, printed on the other listings on the same box office, is E18 2RB. Use E18 2RB for a sat-nav.

The drama centre is in South Woodford, not Ilford. Churchfields is a short walk from South Woodford station on the Central line. The Kenneth More Theatre is in Oakfield Road in Ilford town centre, near Ilford station on the Elizabeth line. The two venues are about four miles apart, so book the weekend that suits where you are.

If you are driving to the Ilford dates on 12 or 13 December, the town centre council car parks and their tariffs are on our Ilford parking page, and any road closures on the day will be on our Ilford roadworks and travel page.

Sources