Pantos - past their sell-by date?

[Squiblet]

Looking at the "what you have you booked for Xmas" thread, I noticed a lot of people were planning on taking their DC to the panto. Sometimes two pantos! But every time I've taken mine, it's struck me that their brand of humour is quite old-fashioned, and not in a good way.

Past audiences may have found it hilarious to see a man wearing ladies' clothes, but my DC thought nothing of it - it's something they see on the streets around town quite often nowadays. And the cartoonish/farcical elements didn't really appeal to them, because even cartoons are pretty sophisticated these days.

Interestingly, a lot of the topical jokes were about "family telly" like Bake Off, which the writers must have imagined the whole family would appreciate as a shared cultural touchpoint. But my DC went straight from CBeebies to streaming/YouTube. They watch the occasional DVD with us, but for them, prime time telly may as well not exist.

Maybe other people's DC get more out of the traditional panto? Happy to be proved wrong...

My local theatre doesn't do panto but instead will put on a festive preformance . We have watched things like The Railway Children, The Secret Garden , and Peter Pan , and they were enjoyed by our dcs.

Typo performance !

We have just returned from blue stone which we watched a show about the bake off also! My little one is 3 almost 4 and enjoyed but definitely didn't have a clue what was going on!

Mine love it, they like the slapstick, they like the audience participation and, as it as local theatre and they do drama, they often know some of the cast.

High quality, high budget London pantos can be brilliant - I saw Edna Everage in Dick Whittington about ten years ago and it was an amazing experience. A really diverse audience, great cast, funny jokes. Sorry but it really is one thing that London gets right

But agree a lot of them can be shite. SIL insisted on taking the kids to see a regional panto for years but they hated it. Local dance school, 'celebrity' they have never heard of, cheesy jokes, the same structure and plot every time. Paying over a hundred quid for us all to go plus dinner plus travel - no thanks.

We are going to one of the 'goes wrong' shows this year - they love those.

Sounds like you take them to a crap panto tbh..

The kids I take to the panto reach year have a great time, shouting out the response to the good guy , booing the baddie, singing along to the songs, enjoying the slapstick elements, waiting for the annual in-jokes (eg panto always splits the audience in 2 for sing along, and the music conductor always votes which was noisier and every year "accidentally" put his 9 upside down for the second score and the. Corrects the mistake so it's always a draw etc)

There's stuff that goes over the kids head, like Bake Off jokes/innuendos etc but that's good, because they're making it appeal to all ages, not just kids.

They go back every year until about 13/14.

We brought ours to the local one once and they hated it and wanted to leave at the intermission. I wouldn't bother again, it's just not our cup of tea. YMMV, though.

Also ours always has "wow" factor which is different each year, like flying cast members/vehicles or one year they did 3D projection

"Maybe other people's DC get more out of the traditional panto? Happy to be proved wrong..."

If you don't enjoy it, don't go. Nobody has to justify why they enjoy it.

Pantomime has a very, very long history - its roots are from the 16th century - and is a key part of British theatre's Christmas celebrations.

Part of the tradition of pantomime is men dressing as women - for comedic effect - and also women dressing as men - the principal boy is always a woman.

It may well, of course, be that it's not to your taste, or that of your family, but a good pantomime should be a really entertaining spectacle. There are always jokes about some form of modern culture and often the music reflects contemporary hits.

You didn't ask if YABU but I think YABU!

I think they have to evolve or die now. The pantomime dame played for laughs should go the same way as blackface did.

You didn't ask if YABU but I think YABU!

I didn't, did I? But cheers for letting me know all the same!

Part of the point of the post was to point out that the tradition of men dressing as women, and women dressing as men, is somewhat outdated because people do this in public now, as part of everyday life. So it never occurred to my DC to find this funny. But I was wondering - asking, not telling - whether other people's DC felt differently.

It's nice to hear that there are still kids who love it, because it's such an old and quirky tradition. I wouldn't want to see it die completely.

But the cross dressing is one small part of panto tradition.

Things like the fairy godmother, buttons character, baddie etc are all "out dated" and following tropes and stereotypes.

I flippin' hate panto. Have done since I was a kid 😂

Oh yes they are!

The pantos we have been to have been fantastic... 2 years we did a musical instead (technicolor dream coat and Jesus superstar) and both sucked in comparison.

We went to a panto in '3D' either 3 or 4 years ago (can't remember which) and I was baffled by it being referred to as 3D (obviously plays are right?) when I booked and more confused when handed 3D glasses as we entered but the actually had clear screens and projected 3D animated characters who interacted with the real actors.

Theres definitely good and different ones out there.

Oh no they’re not!
Great venue, amazing sets and brilliant cast. Great panto!

@Squiblet

You didn't ask if YABU but I think YABU!

I didn't, did I? But cheers for letting me know all the same!

Part of the point of the post was to point out that the tradition of men dressing as women, and women dressing as men, is somewhat outdated because people do this in public now, as part of everyday life. So it never occurred to my DC to find this funny. But I was wondering - asking, not telling - whether other people's DC felt differently.

It's nice to hear that there are still kids who love it, because it's such an old and quirky tradition. I wouldn't want to see it die completely.

Mrs. Brown's boys and Mrs. Doubtfire are both popular even now.

Mrs. Browns Boys was said to have dropped in ratings last year but nearly 4 MILLION households (average house size 2.4 so nearly 9 million people) still switched on to watch it.

Mr. Tumble dresses up as woman for his show and is the biggest kids entertainer in the country.

It's less about drag and more about fantasy and clowning... the clown was the most popular thing at the circus we attended the other week.

Behind You!

Oh no it's not!

I think you're over thinking it

Oh no they're not!

I love a panto, we go every year with extended family, grandparents, teenagers and littlies.

Yes, some are cringy, but that's part of the charm. We go to a panto that's been on for years and it a relatively big production. It's the one show that keeps the theatre going, which can only be a good thing.

I think it depends on the panto. We go to the one at the Hackney Empire which is rightly a local institution- it’s utterly brilliant, great performances, jokes, and a real local flavour. It doesn’t have any celebs but the same excellent performers every year (such as the brilliant Clive Rowe).

Then a few years ago we went to the panto in Newbury with my parents and it was absolutely dire.

The history of pantomime is really interesting. For example, have you ever spotted that the good magical characters always enters and exit stage right and the baddies stage left, because this was how heaven and hell were presented in medieval plays. I do think it makes a huge difference to the experience of the company seem to give a sense of being part of a meaningful tradition. If it’s just laughing at a man in a dress, then sure it’s going to be crap.

We’re taking ours for the first time this year. I think they’ll love it. The singing and dancing. The audience participation. The slapstick humour. The lights and effects.
I’m hoping it will become our Christmas Eve tradition for the next few years.

My kids loved the slapstick and shouting out when they were little - and trying to catch the sweets that were thrown out into the audience. A good panto should work on several levels with jokes for the adults that go over the kids heads and hopefully a good singalong/dancealong as well. Three generations of us used to go - one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was my 80-year-old dad getting up to dance to Gangnam style and realising he actually knew the dance. Laughed until I cried - he’s no longer with us and remembering that moment still makes me laugh out loud. To be honest I think if you don’t enjoy it then your kids probably won’t, but whenever we’ve gone the theatre has always been full of big family groups having a great time.