Design A Dame Costume Competition

We would like you to design the finale costume for our Dame – Wendy Whittington. She is our larger-than-life Dame, Suffolk’s most flamboyant farmer and she needs something fabulous to wear during the final scene of the show (spoiler alert: it’s a coronation!) – think mother-of-the-groom! The Dame’s costume should be full of dazzling colours and sparkle – so let your imagination run wild!

The winning design will be brought to life by our team of professional costume makers and will be worn on stage in front of thousands of audience members this Christmas. It’ll also be featured in our Pantomime programme! All of the entries will be displayed on our website.

For this competition, we would like you to design a spectacular costume for Wendy. Think bold colours, fabulous patterns, outrageous accessories and lots of pantomime spark

le. The bigger, brighter and more imaginative, the better!

Whether you love glitter, bold patterns, feathers, sequins or something completely unexpected, we’d love to see your ideas. 

So grab your pencils, paints or pens and get creative. We can’t wait to see your fabulous finale costume designs!

Good luck, and happy designing!

To give you a helping hand, here is an overview of the story:

This year’s Dame is Wendy Whittington, Dick Whittington’s mother. Picture the scene – no one comes to London anymore because the city has been overrun by rats! With the Queen missing and the wicked Roderick Rat preparing to take the throne, things are looking bleak. Luckily, a young hero from Bury St Edmunds, Dick Whittington, arrives in London determined to help save the city and restore the rightful Queen. Leaving home without telling his mum, Wendy Whittington, Dick joins forces with Alice, a brave cheese shop owner, to stand up to the rats. Before long, Wendy follows her son to London and finds herself swept up in an adventure packed with larger-than-life characters, daring escapes and plenty of pantomime fun. Along the way, there are mysterious secrets to uncover, a missing Queen to find, a journey to Buckingham Palace, and even an underground cheese mine hidden beneath the streets of London (which are paved with cheese rather than gold!)

How to Enter

Design your costume on a piece of white A4 paper. You can download our branded PDF if you would like to here. Fill in our contact form along with your entry and post, drop it off or email an image on them to the addresses below.

Download our branded A4 here.

Download our contact form here.

You can be as creative as you like – it doesn’t have to be a dress; it can be anything which you think will look fabulous and tie into the story. Think about every part of the costume, in

cluding footwear, headwear, hair accessories, jewellery and any other accessories you’d like to add.

Our Producer, Director, Designer and wardrobe team will choose the winner!

Post your entry to:

Costume Design Competition

Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds

5 Westgate Street

Bury St Edmunds

Suffolk

IP33 1QR

Or drop it into the Box Office Tuesday to Friday 2pm to 5pm.

Entries must be received by Monday 3rd August. The winner will be notified by Friday 7 August.  Read the T&Cs at the bottom of this page.

The design will appear in the programme of this year’s pantomime and the final costume will be worn by Wendy for 90 performances of Dick Whittington this Christmas.

ALL entries will be scanned and uploaded to our website for all to see.

 

Or email a scan or high-quality picture of your design and contact form to marketing@theatreroyal.org. 

 

Information for Parents & Guardians

The ‘Design A Dame Costume Competition’ is a fun and creative activity inviting young people 16 and under to design a costume for our pantomime Dame for our in-house 2026 pantomime Dick Whittington. The selected design will be created by our professional costume makers into a costume for our Dame, who will wear the design in the final scene of Dick Whittington.

This section provides parents and guardians with everything they need to know to support a young person’s entry. Entrants can express their ideas in any artistic format they enjoy, whether that’s a drawing, painting, digital design, or a mixed‑media creation such as a collage. The idea must be portrait in an A4 size – entrants can supply their own material or download our handy branded A4. Entries and contact forms can be submitted either in‑person at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds Box Office, by post to Costume Design Competition, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, 5 Westgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1QR. If dropping your design off in person, please fill in a contact form, which will be available at our box office and downloadable from our website here. Entries may also be displayed at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds and online. If you do not consent to this, please write ‘Do Not Share’ on your entrant form. The competition runs from 25/06/2026 to 03/08/2026 with the selected design announced on 07/08/2026. If at any point you’re unsure about the process, the submission steps, or what a young person needs to include, please feel free to contact us.

Terms and Conditions

Open to young people aged 16 and under. One entry per person. Entries must be original work and submitted between 25/06/2026 and 03/08/2026, including parental or guardian permission for those aged under 16. The winning design will be selected on 07/08/2026. There is no alternative to the prize. By entering, you agree that submitted entries may be displayed at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, online, including on the Theatre Royal Website and social media accounts, and in promotional material and press with parental consent. Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds reserves the right to amend or withdraw the competition if necessary.