Brighton Pantomime 2026: Only One, and It Is a Hotel

If you are looking for a Brighton pantomime this Christmas, the short answer is that the city has exactly one, and it is not at the Theatre Royal. It is Aladdin, at a seafront hotel, running for nine days between Christmas and New Year.

That surprises people every year, so here is the evidence, checked against the venues’ own listings on 6 September 2026, along with what the Theatre Royal and Brighton Dome are actually staging instead and where the nearest full-scale pantos are.

The Theatre Royal is doing Legally Blonde

The Theatre Royal’s Christmas slot, the long run that in most towns is the panto, is booked. ATG’s listings for the venue show Legally Blonde from Tuesday 15 December 2026 to Saturday 2 January 2027, filed under Musicals.

There is no pantomime anywhere in the venue’s published diary for December 2026 or January 2027. The rest of its festive fortnight is one-nighters and short runs:

The Christmas Cracker is listed as Family and sits in the slot a panto would normally occupy, so it is the closest thing the Theatre Royal has to one, but the venue does not call it a pantomime.

Brighton’s actual panto: Aladdin at the Metropole

Aladdin, DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole, King’s Road, BN1 2FU. Tuesday 22 to Wednesday 30 December 2026.

This is Brighton Family Panto, which has run at the Metropole since 2017 and calls this its tenth anniversary production. Its own site names Courtney Act as the headline star, playing both the Genie of the Lamp and the Genie of the Ring, against Abanazar and alongside Princess Jasmine. It is produced by Twelve A Studios, described on the site as an E3 Events brand.

That last detail is worth a footnote for anyone who follows Brighton’s Christmas history: E3 Events is the same company that ran the Valley Gardens Christmas market and withdrew from it on rising costs in 2023.

What is confirmed from the organiser and its ticket pages:

• Running time two hours including an interval
• Concessions for under 16s, students with valid ID, and over 60s
• An adult-only 16+ version with extra material, alongside the family shows
• Booking through Eventbrite, with group rates for ten or more and carers’ tickets by email to hello@brightonfamilypanto.com or on 01273 719759
• No refunds, stated plainly on the ticket page

Individual performance listings are published per date rather than as a single grid, so check the date you want. As an example of the pattern, the Sunday 27 December performance is listed at 10.30am to 12.30pm. Ticket prices are not published on the front of the listing; you see them at the basket stage.

The hotel has parking and refreshments on site, but it sits on the seafront on King’s Road, which is the busiest stretch of the city over Christmas week. Our Brighton parking guide covers the seafront tariffs, and the roadworks and travel page is worth a look before you drive in.

What Brighton Dome is doing instead

The Dome does not do panto either, but it does put on the city’s biggest family Christmas programme, and unlike the panto it publishes full times and prices. All of the following are confirmed on the Dome’s own listings for 2026:

Duck Pond, Circa. Concert Hall, Wednesday 23 to Monday 28 December. Swan Lake reimagined as circus, ages 5+, one hour twenty with no interval. Wed 23 Dec 7.30pm; Thu 24 Dec 2pm and 5pm; Sat 26 Dec 2pm; Sun 27 Dec 11am and 2pm; Mon 28 Dec 2pm and 7pm, the evening show audio described. £31.50, £27.50, £19.50 and £12.50. Under 14s must be accompanied.

The Adventures of the Little Red Hen, Stuff and Nonsense. Corn Exchange, Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 December, 11am and 2.30pm, six performances. Puppetry, live music and comedy, made for children aged 3+. £21.50 adults, £14.50 child, £58 family.

The Snowman with Live Orchestra, Carrot Productions. Concert Hall, Saturday 19 December, 1.30pm and 4.30pm. The film on a big screen with the score played live, plus the Shaun the Sheep short Fleece Navidad and a singalong of Walking in the Air. £23.50, £20.50, £17, under 16s £15.50. The 1.30pm show is a relaxed performance; it runs with an interval and ends at 2.50pm, while the 4.30pm show runs straight through to 5.30pm.

Live At Christmas. Concert Hall, Sunday 20 December, 7.30pm, doors 6.45pm. David O’Doherty, Sara Pascoe, Toussaint Douglass, Bridget Christie and host Amy Gledhill. £32. Age 16+, and 16 and 17 year olds must be with an adult.

Dome and Brighton Festival members save £2 on full price tickets across these.

The nearest proper pantomimes

If you want a traditional panto with a dame and a two-week run, you are travelling along the coast.

• Cinderella, Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, 11 December 2026 to 17 January 2027. The longest run in the county and Eastbourne’s established panto house, produced by Jordan Productions. On sale now
• Dick Whittington, Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne, 7 December 2026 to 3 January 2027
• Snow White, White Rock Theatre, Hastings, 12 December 2026 to 3 January 2027
• Beauty and the Beast, Community House, Peacehaven, 3 to 5 December 2026, the closest to Brighton and the smallest

Eastbourne is around 40 minutes from Brighton by train and Hastings around an hour and a quarter. Devonshire Park and White Rock have the two longest runs of the four.

Why Brighton has no big panto

The Theatre Royal has not staged an annual pantomime for many years. Its Christmas slot goes to a touring musical, which is a commercially safer booking for a receiving house on the national touring circuit, and the Dome programmes circus, orchestral film and family theatre rather than panto. That leaves the field to Brighton Family Panto, which is why a seafront hotel has ended up being the answer to a question people expect a theatre to answer.

Expected next: Brighton Family Panto usually publishes its full performance grid and prices during the autumn, and the Theatre Royal will confirm what The Christmas Cracker actually is closer to the time. This page will be updated when either lands.