Taking Stock - PwC takes centre stage in record-breaking hit.

While most dames will have already hung up their fake appendages and polyfiller make-up for another year, those jolly staff at PricewaterhouseCoopers are now gearing up for their biggest annual charity event – the PwC panto. It’s time to gather up your children and get on down to the Peacock Theatre on London’s Kingsway for the accountants’ version of Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood. Run by and starring PwC’s own staff, the event started as a small intimate ‘do’ in the staff canteen but, mimicking the growth of the firm, has snowballed into a major extravaganza. This year’s performance will be attended by over 3,500 children from inner-London schools and 17 charities and those lucky kids will each be given a goody bag of sweets, ice cream and copies of a book to accompany the show. But of course, TS didn’t expect the action to stop there. Ever more ambitious, the firm has set up a live satellite link, allowing bed-ridden kids the chance to see the show. Not that it seems to have phased musical director and insolvency partner Steve Hill in the least. While many others could have hit the bottle, Steve reckons he’s done it all before and is taking the opportunity to play to a record 6,000 people (no exaggeration) in his stride. This year’s audience promises to be the biggest of the panto’s 14-year history and a total of 70 staff have been rehearsing since September, with people from all service lines and grades and even four partners. The show runs for four nights, ending on Saturday.