A new production of Derek Walcott’s play Pantomime opens tonight in Essex.

The play, directed by the Nobel Laureate himself, will run for three nights at the Lakeside Theatre, on the University of Essex’s Colchester campus.

Written in 1978 and set in post-colonial Tobago, Pantomime follows washed-up English actor turned hotel owner Harry Trewe as he desperately prepares the entertainments at his slapdash establishment. His big idea Robinson Crusoe - The Pantomime! underwhelms his waiter Jackson Phillip and pushes their relationship to breaking point.

St Lucian-born Walcott, 82, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. He is Professor of Poetry at Essex University and Pantomime is being staged as part of his annual two-week residency there.

Pantomime runs at 7.30pm nightly from 3 to 5 May. Tickets are free but a donation of £5 per ticket is being requested.

For more information log on to www.essex.ac.uk/artson5/Event.aspx?type=theatre