Woking Pantomime 2026: Brian Conley, 4 Dec to 3 Jan

Woking’s pantomime this year is Goldilocks and the Three Bears, running from Friday 4 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, with the opening night on Saturday 5 December, at Woking Theatre, in the Peacocks Centre, GU21 6GQ. It is on sale now.

Updated 17 October: ATG now lists a first performance on Friday 4 December at 7pm, already sold out, and the cheapest opening-week seats are now £14.42. Updated 6 October: ATG has now listed a relaxed performance on Wednesday 30 December at 2pm and a free touch tour on Saturday 2 January.

One thing to sort out first, because it trips people up when they search. The venue is no longer called the New Victoria Theatre. The Ambassadors was reintroduced as Woking Theatres & Cinema from Friday 17 April 2026, and as part of that the New Victoria, ATG Entertainment’s first acquired venue, “has been renamed Woking Theatre” (Theatre in Woking). The Rhoda McGaw Theatre and Nova Cinema kept their names. Same theatre, same address, same auditorium that opened in 1992, and the sign on the building in older photographs still says otherwise.

Who is in it

Brian Conley heads the cast as Billy Barnum. His daughter Lucy Conley plays Goldilocks. Around them, ATG lists David Robbins as Dame Betty Barnum, Gary Milner as The Evil Ringmaster, the magician Phil Hitchcock as the Magical Mysterioso, and the roller-skating duo Gina and Lester (ATG Tickets).

This is Conley’s return to a stage he knows well. Woking’s 2022 panto was Cinderella, “featuring Brian Conley”, as the council put it when it promoted that year’s festive programme.

The story, and who it suits

It is the circus version rather than the porridge one. Goldilocks runs her own circus, a rival ringmaster sets out to wreck it, and three bears turn up to save the Big Top. ATG’s own billing promises “riotous comedy, extraordinary special effects, and hair-raising stunts”.

Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult aged 18 or over. ATG publishes no lower age guidance and no running time for this production.

Dates, times and what seats cost

ATG’s listing now starts on Friday 4 December at 7pm, a performance that was already showing as sold out on 17 October. ATG still bills Saturday 5 December as the opening night. The theatre is dark on Monday 7 December, and most days carry two performances. Prices below are the lead-in price for each performance in ATG’s own listing data on 17 October 2026, before booking fees; they are the cheapest seat rather than a typical one, and they move as seats sell.

The pattern has changed since September, when the opening matinee was the dearest slot in the week at £28.50. On 17 October it was Tuesday 8 December at 7pm that had the highest lead-in price, with availability shown as low. Weekday matinees are the cheapest way in, at £14.42.

ATG’s product listing gives the show’s overall from-price as £15, valid to the final performance on 3 January 2027. Performances beyond the first week are on sale but their prices are only shown in the booking calendar, so check the date you want rather than assuming £15 holds through Christmas week. Booking fees are charged on top; ATG’s line is “transparent booking fees, no late stage surprises”.

Group bookings of 10 or more go through ATG’s group request form or 020 7206 1174. The box office at the theatre opens 90 minutes before each performance.

Access performances

ATG has now listed two access dates for this production (ATG relaxed performance, ATG touch tour):

• Relaxed performance: Wednesday 30 December, 2pm. From £14.42, the cheapest seat ATG was showing on 6 October, with good availability.
• Touch tour: Saturday 2 January, 5.30pm. Free, but booked through ATG, and it was already showing low availability on 6 October.

No signed, captioned or audio described performance is listed yet. If you need one, ask the venue rather than assuming a date exists to book.

Getting there and parking

The theatre is inside the Peacocks Centre, so this is a town centre trip: five minutes on foot from Woking station, and the Victoria Place car parks are the closest.

Victoria Place Red is the big one at 1,377 spaces, with 40 accessible bays, 42 adult and young child bays and 45 electric charging spaces; Blue has 824, Yellow 509 and Green 231. Red’s main ramp comes out next to the theatre, which the council’s own car park page still calls the New Victoria. All four are ticketless ANPR, paid before you exit at a paystation or through the JustPark app on location code 524094. Heathside Crescent, 487 spaces on code 524095, is the fallback.

For an evening performance the flat £2.20 rate from 6pm to 5.59am applies. A matinee is the expensive one: daytime charges run £2.50 for up to an hour, £4 up to three hours and £8 up to six, so a 1pm panto plus lunch lands in the £8 band. On Sundays anything past the first hour is a flat £4. Full tariffs, permits and payment methods are on our Woking parking page, and anything dug up nearby that week will show on our Woking roadworks and travel page.

What else is on around it

The panto is the anchor, but December in Woking also brings the town’s Christmas lights switch-on in Jubilee Square, whose 2026 date the council has not yet published, and the Christmas market that follows it. Our things to do in Woking page covers the rest of the town’s indoor options, with prices and opening times checked this summer.

What this page will say next

When ATG loads prices for Christmas and New Year week, and if signed, captioned or audio described dates are added, both go on this page with the source. If the run sells out on particular dates, that goes on too.

Checked on 5 September 2026 against ATG Tickets’ Woking Theatre listing and its published performance data, and Woking Borough Council’s car park pages.