Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Panto


In December I learned about Panto, the British traditional Christmas theatre.  What a fun family treat!  It felt like a circus, with children waving glowsticks, yet the jokes onstage were geared towards adults.  

Here are some of the common elements to Panto:  
  • good and bad fairies
  • an actor in an animal costume
  • the protagonist is a male character played by a woman in tight-fitting clothes
  • there is always a female character played by a man
  • slapstick scenes, such as the rubber ball fight in the Panto we saw
  • audience participation, such as shouting "It's behind you!" Or "Yes it is!" And "No it t'isn't!"
The show we saw was called "Dick Whittington & His Cat," and it was complete with 14th century merchant scenes, dancing rats, a mouse puppet, pirates, a shipwreck, a Beatles song (sung in cat) and lessons in Welsh.  

This Yank's head is still spinning!



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