PANTOMIME season may have only just arrived but staff at an Ipswich theatre are already springing into action with plans for next year.Ipswich's Regent Theatre has today revealed to the Evening Star it's new look programme brochure that is packed with shows booked for spring and summer next year.

PANTOMIME season may have only just arrived but staff at an Ipswich theatre are already springing into action with plans for next year.

Ipswich's Regent Theatre has today revealed to the Evening Star it's new look programme brochure that is packed with shows booked for spring and summer next year.

The theatre, which is currently rehearsing this year's pantomime, Snow White, gave the Star a sneak preview of the new brochure that will be sent out 65,000 theatre goers next week.

Shows for the season, which runs from February until June, includes big name musicals like the West End show Footloose, the cult favourite Rocky Horror Show, Cole Porter's famous musical High Society, and the Ipswich Operatic and Dramatic Society will be performing the hit Broadway musical Titanic. Dance fans can enjoy the world wide hit Riverdance and the ballets The Nutcracker and Swan Lake while opera for the season will come from performances of Aida and Tosca.

Big name music stars set to appear in Ipswich include Bryan Ferry, Lemar, G4, Russell Watson, The Waterboys and Hollywood star turned rock musician Steven Seagal.

Comedians Russell Brand and Lenny Henry will be bringing some laughs to the season and Rik Mayall will be starring in The New Statesman, while family shows Basil Brush and The Tweenies will also be arriving in town.

Hazel Clover, manager of the Regent, said the new brochure would be sent out to visitors on the theatre's mailing list and would also be available throughout the town.

Audience numbers at the Regent have continued to grow following huge efforts to revive the once ailing theatre, and between April 2005 and April this year, more than 159,500 people visited the venue, and since April this year more than 126,700 people have walked through it's doors.

What do you think of the new season plans at the Regent? Are you a regular visitor to the theatre? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.