Pantomimes are not what they used to be

[RunningAndSinging]

I don’t know - I am probably expecting a carbon copy of what I saw in my childhood and things move on. I saw a good show yesterday but it wasn’t a pantomime by my ideas of what that entails.

We didn’t shout ‘it’s behind you.’
There wasn’t really a dame.
There wasn’t a handsome Prince played by a women.
There was no slapstick or custard pies - not seen that for years.
There wasn’t a singalong at the end with the words up on the stage on a roll down screen.
There wasn’t much plot.

We did boo the villain and there was a bit of ‘oh no it isn’t’ etc
They did get the kids up on stage.
There was some good comedy and a funny song with props.

Maybe the old pantomimes are considered sexist these days - like the controversy over non consensual kisses in sleeping beauty and Snow White. And I guess all the mess with paint and custard pies is a pain to clear up.

Aww that sounds the complete opposite to the panto we have. It's always a mix of pure stand up comedy gold and a bit of traditional panto thats taken over by comedy sketches again.

You have just described all the conventions of pantomime that I teach in a Pantomime scheme of work.

• Pantomine Dame
• Principle boy (played by a woman)
• The slosh scene (messy set piece)
• Lots of audience interaction including stock phrases
• Fairy tale plot
• Singing and Dancing
• Chorus

Without those conventions it’s not a pantomime- it’s morphed into a new style of theatre. It needs a new name probably - Christmas Theatre or something like that.

Pantomime itself has changed quite a lot since its arrival in the UK in the 16th century and used to be completely mimed.

So here’s the thing - theatre styles do change and flow with the times but really I think YANBU.

We went to the Rock and Roll Panto in Leeds last week and it was absolutely incredible. All the main things you've mentioned were in it, apart from a female lead.

It was a small cast mostly playing multiple roles (it was Robin Hood) and every one playing a lt least one musical instrument as part of the score and all from memory, no music out to play with. Very skilled and talented people indeed!

Whoever wrote the score and arranged all the music was one clever bugger. And dear god the rendition of a Meat Loaf song (I won't spoil it!) was truly the best thing I've heard anyone sing in years, it was made for this man's voice.

So good, highly recommend it if anyone's in Leeds!

Oh yes they are! (Sorry, I couldn’t help it 😉)

You must have seen a really bad panto then because our local one has all you mentioned and more.

The one I went to this year had all of the things you’d expect except Aladdin was played by a male not a female.

Which panto did you see? The ones I’ve seen this year have had pretty much all of the above (and as somebody who has dabbled in stage management I was very interested in the clean up of the mess!). I’ve been looking around at ones to go to this Christmas and they’ve all had dames, female performers as the prince etc advertised. Was it actually a pantomime or a Christmas show?

I feel a bit mean naming it as it was good on the whole and there were some good variety acts in there which I enjoyed but I think I have noticed some of these changes across different pantomimes anyway. More stand up comedy and less wallpaper paste! It wasn’t based on a fairytale so the story was less traditional I guess which exaggerated the differences more. It was definitely advertised as a pantomime and did have some of the traditional bits as I listed in my first post.

Thats a shame the one we have just seen had all the panto bits. The only thing I did notice that had changed was they avoided calling Cinderellas sisters ugly which I think was definitely on purpose.

Ha ha - was hoping to be the first to say that but expected someone to have beaten me to it!

We went to one last weekend and it had all the key bits you said. I think you just went to a shit panto by the sounds of it.

I don’t know where you are in the country, but the Oxford one has everything you’ve listed each year if you’re looking for an alternative for 2024…..

Don’t ever go to the London Palladium ‘big celebs’ one…. It’s awful!

It was actually the same company. Not saying it is awful - just moving away from the traditions. Maybe I will go smaller next year.

That's a shame.

Ours was brilliant. Oh yes it was.

Best panto ever was Shane Ritchie in Peter Pan,omg it was fantastic, so well done,I think I enjoyed it more than my charge 😂

I can't wait to have grandchildren so I can start going to pantos again!

You don't need Grandchildren to go to a Pantomime. People of all ages with no kids/kids/grandchildren go.

Ours was a bit "woke". Aladin was female, played by a female. Wishy-washy was her sister. The genie was also female and in a wheelchair and ended up romantically involved with wishy-washy. The Prince was a bloke and married Aladin. I don't have a problem with any of those things individually and don't get me wrong, the story was good and the acting and singing was good too but it felt it was trying too hard.

Oh no they didn't!

Panto is being considered for Unesco World Heritage status, believe it or not.

I recommend pantomimes at the New Theatre Lincoln. Went this year (Aladin) and last year (Cinderella). They were both great. Lots of singing and dancing. Some audience participation but not a huge amount.

We go to this one and it’s amazing!

ETA forgot the quote and mean the rock and roll one in Leeds!

Our local one has changed. I think it's a different troupe. While it ticks all the boxes, it's just so dry and underwhelming. The other one did lots of jokes that worked on two levels, for kids and adults, but the one doesn't.

youngestisapsycho the reviews are really good and friends of mine really liked it