The Past, Present & Future of Pantomime

Pantomime is often a child's first experience of live theatre and therefore it plays a critical role in establishing a young person’s love of live entertainment. It is also a unique shared experience as the whole family go together and the genre is built on audience interactions and traditional calls and shout outs. Sadly, this year there will not be the usual hundreds of venues staging a pantomime, and thousands of actors and technical staff will be unemployed. Only a few have survived the Pandemic and even then, in an abbreviated form, led by Qdos with Lottery funded shows in large venues to ensure they are Covid safe.

Qdos has established itself as the leading Pantomime production company usually has 35 productions each year including the two leading venues of the London Palladium and Birmingham Hippodrome but there are many other companies who usually produce multiple productions (UK productions, Imagine, PHA, Jordan and Evolution) and lots of “in house” productions. All of them are built on the same traditional elements that have made the genre so established over the last two hundred years.

PANTOMIME REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk at the Theatre Royal York

As many pantomimes around the country close after their Christmas runs there is one that is still only halfway through its 76 show run and which is a unique tribute to this wonderful theatrical genre.Berwick Kaler has been writing , directing and playing Dame for 39 years and his experience and mastery of pantomime is clear from the start. This is a production firmly rooted in its own tradition and in its Yorkshire home and coming up from the south east to see it feels a bit like a interloper at some huge in joke which the rest of the local audience are in on. The core of the cast are regulars to Theatre Royal Pantomime and have performed together for years as we are often reminded of during the show. The fact that Kaler had a triple heart by pass in 2017 and his straight man Martin Barrass missed last years following a motorbike accident that nearly killed him adds a strong emotional connection to the affection the audience holds these two and their annual traditional outing. The audience itself is older than any other pantomime audience this season with hardly a child in sight, they have clearly grown up together.

The show is in sharp contrast to York's other pantomime offering at the Grand Opera House where Beauty and the Beast is a TV celebrity lead show with Debbie McGee (Strictly come dancing) Lynne McGranger (Home and away), Anthony Costa (Blue) and Ken Morley (Coronation street) and sticks to the traditional story telling approach, although this version feels a bit more like Cinderella than Beauty!