It was amazing to discover that Bristol University has a student Pantomime society and that they have decided to take their 2018 Easter show to the Edinburgh Fringe. Now I like a great Panto and I like Shakespeare too so the combination was irresistible. The writers demonstrated a real appreciation of the Bard's work littering the script with puns and references and used the structure of Pantomime to create the show. For the most part it works but occasionally the joke wears thin.
Bill is in love with his Bottom and casting for a new show to rival the Pantomime at the Rose theatre, so we soon meet Portia , the Dame character and Iago, the Panto villain in audition. Iago comes between bill and his bottom and it is up to the Dame to sort it out. We get the traditional Panto calls of "Oh no it is not " and " It's behind you ", a bench scene and a pantomime horse (well half of one). In some ways they did not take the Panto idea far enough, where was the songsheet and the princess?
