Time for Women with Talent to Take Back Older Female Roles in Pantos

I think you've got that wrong there are plenty of decent female roles in Shakespeare's plays it was just that women weren't allowed to actually act on stage and so they had to be played by young boys.

I have to say that pantomimes are lowest common denominator entertainment and maybe audiences will vote with their feet but perhaps not I guess there's plenty of people who like that kind of stuff.

I can't stand drag either but again seems fairly popular, but then I hate strippers and again a lot of people go to see that male or female.

OP, there are plenty of other theatrical productions you can go to. You can check the cast lists in advance, if you want to make sure that male actors play men and female actors play women.

If you don't like panto, then just don't go to panto. Have you considered that option?

You could just leave panto for all the people who do enjoy it, rather than trying to change it to fit your tastes. Or you could put on a production of your own?

You might enjoy ‘Into the Woods’ OP - obviously not a panto for the kiddies but very funny without cross dressing.

pantomine ‘Dames’ are grotesques - I’m not sure if older women actors would want the parts. They’re often played by quite masculine actors - they’re not really that much like drag queens.

I’m curious if anyone had been to one of Julian Clary’s pantos - afaik he doesn’t play the ‘dame’ but instead some sort of fabulously clothed ‘spirit of something’ inventions - not sure how the dynamics of that works?

A large bloke dressed in a pantomime Dame costume is inherently funny. A woman dressed as a pantomime Dame isn't. The whole point of panto is its sheer ludicrousness.

Gender role reversal in comedy has been around since the Mummers plays in the Middle Ages. It is part of our theatrical history and tradition.

Your opinions are not universal. Stop telling people what they’re allowed to find funny.

You sound pompous and patronising. .

Heaven forfend! By the OPs logic the only actors in a Shakespeare play should be male. After all, that’s how William wrote the plays!

I don't mind the traditional 'dames' but for the last few years our local panto has also introduced a drag race style character. Really inappropriate for a family show. In the lineup of all the 'stars' of the show on the promotional material there was 1 actual woman and the rest were men or men dressed as women. So from that pov yes it's time for actual women to be given women's parts. Also they were flogging their tickets at half price over Xmas so doesn't appear hugely popular....

What do you think about ballet? Men in tight tights.

How would you retain the essence of a traditional pantomime if you made the changes you’re suggesting?

What a ridiculous OP.

I'm currently in a Panto and the comedy of the dame is that 'she' is a man. The script doesn't work if it's played by a woman, it's the whole point.

And our dame is a straight man!

Men dressing up as women, regardless of the reason, have always given me the ick and always will. Same as "blackface". Mocking disadvantaged people is not funny

When will Richard Hammond be appearing as Buttons? That's what I want to know!

Maybe a suitable role for Olivia Colman?

Nope, leave panto dames alone. Girls tend to play parts such as Peter Pan and Dick Whittington. Love a panto, wokeness can leave them alone

Yabu, women playing the main man's part and nean pmaying the dame is part of the panto tradition.

What are your thoughts, OP, on Glenda Jackson having played King Lear? Michelle Terry playing Richard III?

A lot of pantomime dame humour (in the pantos that I've seen) is based around the dame acting in a coquettish way around the male characters, and sometimes male members of the audience. Wearing over-the-top outfits, being flirtatious, assuming the role of an attractive woman.

The incongruity and ridiculousness is in the fact that the actor is a man, dressed up outlandishly, and therefore presumed to be unattractive to the straight male characters. The panto dame is a figure of fun because of "her" delusions.

If the role was played by an older woman, then it would either lose a lot of this traditional source of humour, or risk being pretty humiliating to the actor.

A large part of the point of the panto dame is that a man (usually a big burly man) is not a woman.

I don't think panto is for you OP!

Maybe try a bit of Shakespeare? or not

I’m not sure I can see Emma Thompson or Judi Dench lining up for these roles.

I am a complete agreement with you OP and also think that the principle male lead should be played by a man. Or else where's the eye candy for the mums? Feels like we miss out on every level in a traditional pantomime tbh, which presumably was the point.

Panto dames should be played by men, panto lead male roles (Peter pan, Whittington etc) should be played by women. The princess love interest should also be played by a woman, the Buttons character should be played by a man. It is key to the humour and style.

All true. It was a chance for salivating men to see otherwise concealed women's legs and thighs. And it sold a hell of a lot of tickets on that basis.