THEATRE Royal Winchester has postponed this year's pantomime.

Aladdin, scheduled to run at Christmas, will now be performed in 2021 due to the health crisis.

Ticketholders are being urged to keep hold of their tickets and use them for next year's show.

They have also been asked not to contact the box office and wait for a member of staff to contact them.

Deryck Newland, Chief Executive of Play to the Crowd, the charity that runs the theatre in Jewry Street, said: "We’ve had to take this heartbreaking decision to postpone Aladdin due to the continuing uncertainty around when theatres can re-open without social distancing.

"Whilst social distancing is in place we are unable to take the financial risk of producing a full scale pantomime. The government has advised that no further guidance or decision will be made around social distancing for theatres until November, which is too late.

"The good news is that we are working with our fabulous creative team behind our hugely successful pantomimes on an alternative Christmas show for Winchester this year. We will announce further details of this in due course."

Thousands of tickets had already been sold.

Kirstie Mathieson, marketing and communications director, said: "Aladdin was set to be our most successful pantomime to date. Please bear with us as we reschedule the performances and contact the ticket holders.

"This is a huge undertaking and we are currently working with a skeleton staff."

The performance schedule for Aladdin 2021 will be announced soon.