AFTER weeks of uncertainty, and Thurrock Council rejecting a proposal from locally-based staff and members of the borough's music and drama groups, to produce this year's show, Polka Dot Pantomimes have confirmed they expect to be producing this year's seasonal pantomine offering at the Thameside Theatre in Grays.

As yet they have not declared what the show will be - and a spokesperson from Peterborough-based Polka Dot said: "We are still awaiting the paperwork from Thurrock Council but we have reached an agreement. We hope to have more news next week."

Polka Dot have contracts In place for several other theatres across the and have named the shows, some cast members and star names and are selling tickets through those local theatres.

Management at the Thameside Theatre have declined to comment when asked today (Thursday, 12 June) about what is happening. The Labour administration's portfolio holder for culture, Cllr John Kent, has also declined to comment to Nub News.

And the Thurrock Council's press office has repeatedly failed to answer questions about what is happening at the theatre, where management have been told they cannot book any shows after 2025 as the venue's future remains uncertain.

Questions raised with the council in the wake of our story in May (Mystery and uncertainty surround the future of Thameside Theatre and its panto once again) have fallen on deaf ears.

Among questions the council has ignored is one about the validity of it offering a contract to Polka Dot without going through a tender process, which is a government directive for any procurement issues over £60,000. Last year Thurrock Council paid Polka Dot more than £144,000 to put on the show.

A source close to the theatre says that the bid put on the table by staff currently working within the threare and wider local theatrical communities, offered Thurrock Council a significantly higher profit that it makes through Polka Dot, but it was disgarded. One theory behind why that might be is that policy-makers do not want to see a successful event run locally, while it considers what it wants to do with the theatre's ongoing management.

Hopes were raised last year that the council was warming to the idea, but little has progressed publicly a since optimistic voices were heard in August

An independent-locally based group is trying to take over the Thameside Complex and run it as a community-based facility.

Externally, talks appear to have become stalled on that proposal, though a spokesperson for the group told Nub News: "We are hopeful that a paper will go to cabinet in July, but we are concerned that grant-funding opportunties that would see millions pumped into the building may be lost if the prevarication and lack of decision-making goes on."