Harlow Panto: Snow White, 48 Shows from 26 November

The Harlow Playhouse panto for 2026 is Snow White, and unlike almost everything else in the town’s Christmas calendar it is already fully on sale. Every date, time and price below is taken from the Playhouse’s own Snow White booking page, first read on 3 September 2026 and read again on 6 October 2026, when the dates and times were unchanged and a few price bands had moved (see below).

It runs Thursday 26 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, in Theatre 1. That window contains 48 performances on 25 dates, which is not the same as running daily. The cheapest advertised seat is £17.

The dates it actually plays

The run is front-loaded onto weekends, then goes flat out from 19 December. There is no performance on Christmas Day and none on New Year’s Day.

That leaves long gaps early on: nothing on 30 November, 1, 2 or 4 December, nothing from 7 to 10 December, and nothing on 14, 15, 17 or 18 December apart from a single performance on the 16th. If you are booking a school-holiday outing, the dense stretch is 19 December onwards, with two shows a day.

What it costs, honestly

The Playhouse prices in bands rather than at a flat rate, and the band moves with the date. These are the advertised ranges, counted across all 48 performances on 6 October 2026, with the 3 September count alongside:

Two performances now show a lower top price than in September: one of the two shows on Saturday 12 December (the 3pm and 7pm are now both listed at £21 to £29), and the 11am on Christmas Eve, now £23 to £28. The Playhouse does not say why. The bottom of every band is unchanged, so the cheapest seat on any date is still what it was.

Two things need saying about the table.

The £95 top figure is real and unexplained. It appears on seven performances: the evenings of 27 and 28 November, the 3pm on 29 November, all three shows on 2 January and the 11am on 3 January. The same performances also carry the lowest entry price in the run, £17. The booking page gives a range and no breakdown of what the top seat buys, so we are not going to supply one.

Two performances are listed as FREE, waiting list only: the opening night, 26 November at 7pm, and 16 December at 6pm. You cannot book them, only join a list. The Playhouse does not say on the booking page why they are free.

The fees on top, which the price band does not include

This is where a family booking gets more expensive than the headline, and the Playhouse is unusually open about it on its how to book page:

• £1.80 booking fee on every ticket. Not per order, per ticket. On a family of four that is £7.20.
• £1.50 Theatre Restoration Levy, described as discretionary, going to the building.
• Support the Arts, a voluntary donation of whatever you choose.

The venue also explains where the money goes: “Harlow Playhouse on average across most of our performances receive 20% of the price of the ticket, with the remaining 80% going to the production’s producer.”

Concessions are for children under 16 and senior citizens. No student rate is published.

The Playhouse warns that it does not publish running times for most shows, because it is not the producing company, so any duration quoted elsewhere is approximate.

Who is in it, and why it can be called award winning

Jimmy Burton-Iles and Ben Parsley return, alongside what the Playhouse describes as “an incredible West End cast and live musicians”. It is co-produced with KD Theatre Productions, as the Harlow panto has been for years.

The Playhouse calls the team “last year’s UK Pantomime Award Winning production”. That is accurate, and worth pinning down. At the Pantomime Awards on 19 April 2026 at Wycombe Swan, Claire Cassidy won Best Choreography for Sleeping Beauty at Harlow Playhouse. The production was also nominated for Best Pantomime but did not win that category. Cassidy has worked on the Harlow panto for 13 years.

On 6 October the Playhouse had still named only those two performers. One thing to watch for: search results have started attaching EastEnders’ Shona McGarty to “Snow White” pantos generally, but the Pantomime Archive’s 2026 listings put her in the Snow White at the White Rock, Hastings. The Harlow entry there still has no cast listed.

Last year’s festive season drew more than 26,000 visitors across Sleeping Beauty and the pre-school show, and the Playhouse said it played to sell-out houses, with three performances on some days.

The toddler show is a separate ticket

For younger children, The Great Christmas Cake Off 2026 plays in Theatre 2 from 5 to 24 December: 35 performances on 15 dates, every one priced £10 to £13. It is aimed at 2 to 6 year olds, their families, nurseries and pre-schools.

Most days run at 10.30am and 1.15pm, with five extra 3.30pm shows and two days shifted to 10.45am and 1.30pm. After the performance children meet Santa and receive a gift.

It is not part of a Snow White ticket. If you want both, that is two bookings.

The Easter panto: Rapunzel, already on sale

If Christmas dates do not work, the Playhouse has also put its 2027 Easter panto on sale. Rapunzel, a touring KD Theatre Productions show starring Silly Billy, plays Theatre 1 from Thursday 25 March to Friday 2 April 2027: 17 performances on 8 dates, every bookable one priced £15 to £23. The first performance, 10.30am on 25 March, is listed as free with a waiting list only, like the Snow White opening night. Details are on the Rapunzel booking page, read on 6 October 2026.

Getting there, and the drop-off has changed

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow CM20 1LS. Box office 01279 431945.

The single most useful thing to know this year is that the turning circle outside the theatre is now reserved for black cabs only, because of the construction work turning Playhouse Square into what the council calls Harlow’s Arts and Cultural Quarter. If you have always dropped children at the door, you cannot this year.

The Playhouse directs everyone else to the Harvey Centre car park, which is adjacent, or the Water Gardens car park, four to five minutes’ walk. Both give 15 minutes free, which covers a drop-off, both charge 24 hours a day, and both are privately owned. NCP Terminus Street is the third option. Harlow bus station is a five minute walk; Harlow Town railway station is 1.3 miles, about 40 minutes on foot or ten by taxi.

Tariffs for those car parks and every council one are on our parking in Harlow page, and anything live on the roads in is on Harlow roadworks and travel. The Playhouse Square works are ongoing, so check before you drive.

Box office hours are published twice, differently. The how to book page says 10am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday. The Playhouse’s own accessibility page says the box office “is open from 10:30 to 17:30 Monday to Saturday” and that you can join its companion scheme by phone “between 11am and 4pm Monday to Saturday”. If you are travelling in to book in person, assume the later opening.

Box office hours: 10am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday on non-show days; on performance evenings until 15 minutes after curtain up; on Sundays from an hour before curtain up until 15 minutes after the start.

Access

From the Playhouse’s accessibility page:

• Eight wheelchair spaces in the main auditorium and two in the Studio. Tell the box office when booking and arrive at least 15 minutes before curtain up.
• Entry ramp, automatic doors, lifts and an accessible toilet. The lifts take wheelchairs but not mobility scooters.
• Personal induction loops, stethosets and ear defenders, available on request at the box office on arrival.
• Relaxed performances are offered “occasionally” and are not advertised as a fixed date. You have to ask the box office. If you need one for Snow White, ask now rather than in December.
• Essential Companion Membership gives a registered patron a free carer ticket. There is an application form and a doctor’s declaration form to complete, so it is not a same-day arrangement.

What is still to come

Frequently asked questions

What is the Harlow Playhouse panto for 2026?

Snow White, starring Jimmy Burton-Iles and Ben Parsley, in Theatre 1 from Thursday 26 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027. The opening night is free, waiting list only, so the first bookable show is 7pm on Friday 27 November.

How much are Harlow panto tickets?

From £17 to £95 depending on the date and seat, with most performances priced £21 to £32. Add a £1.80 booking fee per ticket and an optional £1.50 restoration levy. Concessions are for under-16s and senior citizens.

Is there a Harlow panto on Christmas Day?

No. There is no performance on 25 December or on 1 January. Christmas Eve has two, at 11am and 3pm, and Boxing Day two, at 2pm and 6pm.

Is there a panto for toddlers at Harlow Playhouse?

Yes, The Great Christmas Cake Off in Theatre 2, 5 to 24 December, for ages 2 to 6, at £10 to £13, with a visit to Santa afterwards. It is booked separately from Snow White.

Every figure on this page is quoted from Harlow Playhouse’s own booking and visitor pages, read on 3 September 2026 and rechecked on 6 October 2026, except the award result, which comes from the Pantomime Awards 2026 winners list. The performance counts and the date gaps were derived by reading all 48 rows of the Playhouse’s own booking table, not taken from a summary.