Po-faced panto palaver!
IT’S almost that time of year when theatres are packed with excited children, parents and grandparents eager to participate in the magical, unique world of pantomime. When the lights go down, the music strikes up and the curtains part to reveal a brightly-lit village square or Widow Twankey’s Laundry, the company on stage go into their upbeat opening number and for the next couple of hours, frantic fun and frolics will fend off the big bad world outside.
Pantomimes feature larger than life, often eccentric, characters in over-the-top costumes and hilarious wigs, who bicker, swap insults and behave like overgrown, slightly dim, kids.
Yes. It does sound very similar to the Welsh Assembly.
Pantomimes are designed to cheer people up during the Christmas/new year period and brighten the dark winter months.
The revenue collected from a pantomime can keep a theatre going for several months, subsidising more ‘arty’ productions that attract smaller audiences.
So . . . who could possibly say a bad word about pantomime?
Step forward Tru Powell, a Birmingham ‘social commentator’ who stated on breakfast TV that: “Pantomimes need trigger warnings so audiences can make informed decisions as to whether they want to put them in a space where they can’t control their emotions. They need to prepare themselves mentally.”
For a pantomime?
Has he never been to a theatre or a cinema?
Audiences don’t want to control their emotions.
They’ve paid to laugh, cry, gasp and sometimes scream.
He made his comments after Cambridge University’s Amateur Dramatic Club warned their panto Rapunzel contained scenes of ‘Kidnapping, sexism and alcohol abuse!’
Panto? That sounds more like one of those psychological ‘thrillers’ that turn up on ITV every week.
What Cambridge students put in their shows for their audiences is a million light years away from professional pantomimes which may contain the odd double entendre that goes over the head of the little ones while tickling grown-up funny bones – but they’re not deliberately offensive.
All people require to make an informed decision is to look at the posters outside the theatre – and, if the show looks entertaining, they’ll buy tickets.
They don’t need to be guided by a po-faced social commentator.