The beneficiaries of the audience’s generosity are Sustain Foodbank based at Tonbridge Baptist Church, and Taylor Made Dreams of Crowborough.
Sustain provides on average 30 food parcels a week for families and individuals in financial difficulty, along with personal hygiene and cleaning products.
The money raised will go towards buying items that are needed at specific times of the year, such as Christmas and the school summer holidays.
Taylor Made Dreams enables children with life-limiting illnesses to fulfil their ‘bucket list’ of ambitions and spend quality time with their families. Founded by Suzi Mitchell, whose son Taylor passed away aged 15, it also sources and financially supports holistic therapy and counselling.
The Wicked Productions show – their fourth in the town – achieved 90 per cent capacity at its 41 performances at Tonbridge School. It featured Chris Ellison, well known as DCI Frank Burnside in The Bill, as well as perennial favourites Tom Swift and Michael Fenton Stevens.
Kat Portman Smith, the theatre’s Manager, said: “There was a real buzz around the show, and we are thrilled to have delighted so many people.
“We love seeing generations of families and friends returning year on year, making it part of their Christmas traditions.
“Working with Tom Swift at Wicked Productions means we can offer our audiences a truly top-quality show and, in our auditorium, audiences are never far from the action, keeping them involved from beginning to end.”
She added: “We also keep our ticket prices as affordable as possible – the top price was £19.50 this year – to make the shows as accessible as we can.”
Tom Swift said: “We’re so grateful to the generosity of our wonderful audiences over our record-breaking run of Peter Pan. We hope the money raised helps those in need and goes towards helping the charities.”
This year’s panto, Beauty and the Beast, will run from December 11 to January 3, and tickets are on sale at emftheatre.com
