In 1999, a local group entitled MAD (Millenium Amateur Dramatics) got together for the first time to produce Aladdin in Shiplake College's Tithe Barn in aid of the Shiplake and Dunsden Parish appeal. Following the success of the venture, the group reinvented itself as SHADDO (Shiplake and Dunsden Dramatic Organisation) and decided to produce a further pantomime, the proceeds this time to be ploughed back into the local village venue, Shiplake Memorial Hall, with the aim of restoring the vestiges of a local theatre to the village, following the untimely demise of the Shiplake Players some two decades ago.