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

[SpringTimeIsRingTime]

Panto Dames have been a thing since 1806 when a certain Mr Simmons decided to play Mother Goose as a Witch (how original) rather than as a caring grandmother figure. Nowadays panto dames are mainly played by gay men in drag.

I think it's time for talented actresses to take back elder female roles from the tired tropes played by men since the Victorian era.

Panto dames make me feel so sick. It’s why I can’t stand pantos. All the innuendos and ridiculous make up and outfits. Grim 🤮

It’s absolutely fine not to be a fan of a panto but the innuendo and ridiculous outfits and make up is the actual point of a pantomime!!

Are these women playing hideous parodies of men?
If not, your examples are not relevant.

I thought your point was that you wanted more roles to be available for women? Therefore it’s highly relevant.

Usually principal boys in the days the were cast were younger women (as you yourself noted)

This is as a good a place as any to say women's representation has improved a lot in hit musicals as far as writing goes. Look at hits of the last 10 years, many still running:
Waitress : words & music by Sara Bareilles
Hadestown : words & music by Anais Mitchell
Fun Home : words & music by Lisa Kron & Jeanine Tesori (Tesori also wrote
Shrek
Frozen : words & music by Kristen Anderson-Lopez (cowritten with Robert Lopez)
Six: words & music by Lucy Moss (cowritten with Toby Marlow)
Come From Away : words & music by Irene Sankoff (cowritten with David Hein)
Suffs : words & music by Shania Taub
Anastasia : Lynn Ahrens (lyrics only)
So women are well-represented in recent hits. This is a huge improvement from most of the history of musicals. Otoh there is still a long way to go overall.

If Mitski writes her score for The Queen's Gambit as planned, I predict that could be another such hit.

https://www.thequeensgambitmusical.com/

I will add

Great British Bake Off Musical - Pippa Cleary (she also wrote My Son's a Queer & Adrian Mole

Legally Blonde - Nell Benjamin (co-written with Lawrence O Keefe)

Kinky Boots - Cindy Lauper co-written with Harvey Fierstein)

Trans women are men.
Only a man can be one.

They are men with a well-documented paraphilia that approximately 3% of males develop, usually from puberty which is when they discover they get "excited" when they put on their mummy's or their sister's knickers.
It progresses from there on.

That doesn't mean that women should be excluded from playing Mother Goose or the Ugly Sisters. I can't wait until these roles are filled primarily by the many talented women out there who can act the pants off any mediocre man in drag.

Nah, it'd be crap if women started playing Mother Goose. Wouldn't be half as funny.

Thank you, I didn't know these were by women! It really is improving..

Since when was a pantomime about high quality acting?
If don’t like pantomimes then don’t go and see them. Go and watch a play instead as it sounds like that’s the type of theatre production you’d prefer.

Your arguments are getting weaker by the post.

In your opinion.

I don’t think you’ve even had a strong argument to begin with. It’s entirely based on your complete lack of understanding of what a pantomime actually is.