If you think of Christmas in the UK you immediately think of the traditional form of entertainment, the pantomime.
This is not to be confused with just an Xmas play, like a stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol. No, there are standard stories, often based on fairy tale ideas, and standard elements that are included.
The ‘home’ of the panto is the London Palladium. They will have a big budget all-singing all-dancing presentation with high ticket prices and great demand, but many local theatres do something.
Mostly they are aimed at children (though there have been adult versions with lots of swearing, crude jokes but nothing too explicit) and run from perhaps the beginning of December to late January the next year. That could well be two shows per day.
If you go, there are likely to be school trips in attendance. We can’t say how well behaved (or otherwise) they will be. Usually noisy and smelly.
Stories include: Peter Pan, Aladdin, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Robin Hood. Oddly, there’s one about Dick Whittington, who became Lord Mayor of London, and his cat. Pop up to Archway and Highgate to see monuments to the cat and pubs and hospitals dedicated to Dick.
