London Panto Alternative/Drag Free Panto

[RunsWithDinosaurs]

Can anyone think of or recommend a drag-free panto or panto alternative? I used to take my eldest to the panto at the Lyric Hammersmith as it was reasonably affordable but not sure I want to teach my girls that mimicking a woman is the ultimate laugh-fest. I’ve seen A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic during preview week but even the cheap seats would be extortionate for a family of 5. Anyone got any bright ideas?

I was involved with a panto group years ago that was very much based on the English panto and the Dame was a fixed feature, as was Prince Charming being played by a woman.
My perception was that these are very much part of the traditional English panto set up.

In out local panto, in ireland they don't have these elements.

Are there any small am dram groups near you?

I'm not laughing.

@parryofwomen well I'd say pantomime isn't for you then 🙂

Maybe not, but the dignity of women and their right not to be mocked is.

I never had a problem with a traditional Dame and Prince Charming being a female, when the jokes wre age appropriate to the young audience.

Since Ru Paul's drag race our two regional theatres either use a Drag Queen with a sexual innuendo as a name and with some horrible adult jokes, or the theatre where it has been the same Dame for years which was harmless has also started to adult up and sexualise the jokes and I dont think there is any place for that at a childrens show. There are adult specific pantos and that's where they should stay

Thankfully DD is a teen and thinks Panto is cringey now so we'll go to the Nutcracker instead

@parryofwomen are you against females playing the male lead too?
Then ok. Panto definitely isn't for you 🙂

I was going to mention hansel and gretl at the globe - not too expensive but need warm clothes!

Drag is not the same as dressing up as the opposite sex. Even when it's comedy.

In panto it's part of the upside-down element, things not being what they seem.

I'd try and find one with a woman in the part of the male lead rather than no men dressed up.

Regardless of what you think of modern panto, there are some lovely alternative suggestions on here, including this one. I loved this book as a child, not least because it included the character of Petrova who bucked gender stereotypes and wanted to be a car mechanic. And yet was still, very much, a girl.

Thought that was actually a cake i could buy, got very excited 😔

Hopefully you’ll get some ideas runswithdinosaurs, i do love peter pan goes wrong but I’ve only seen it on the tv

I loved the book as well….then emma watson ruined the tv show for me 😩

Thanks everyone. Lots of great ideas here. Now to choose!!

I think panto dames can be problematic, and I've never liked them... but I would agree with PP that they absolutely are not trying to present as though they are women; the absurdity is in the fact that they very clearly are not women.

Think of the ugly sisters - they very rarely do anything specific to 'ugly them up'; they're automatically considered ugly 'women' because they are clearly men.

In the same way, the male lead is usually played by a very pretty, 'feminine' young woman - they don't usually even give her 'male' clothes to wear - and not by a woman who may look/present slightly more ambiguously.

If anything, I could see pantomime dames eventually being banned because they are considered a gross, offensive parody of transwomen, rather than of 'boring old' actual women. That's not my personal view at all, but I can see which way the wind is blowing.

What about The Snowman, a musical version which has played each winter at the Peacock Theatre in London for 26 years.

Very different vibe but Christmas Carrols at St Pauls?

Principal boys are usually boys these days. Even Peter Pan in the musical play is often a young man in modern productions.

Ah, OK, I haven't been to a panto for many years now, so my frame of reference may be very dated!

I know there was a big outcry some years ago when a lot of groups started using children as 'dwarves' in productions of Snow White - presumably because they were cheaper. For many adult actors of very small stature, that was their bread and butter, and they understandably weren't happy to be supplanted by (obviously less experienced) actors who were only short because they were still children. I don't know what came of that?