REVEALED: Wishy Washy reason charity Aladdin panto got the Chop Chop
FOR 41 years, it has been a mainstay of the Christmas season in the idyllic village of Ansty.
But this winter there will be no pantomime after concerns over ‘cultural insensitivity’ led to the lastminute cancellation of Aladdin.
The row has rocked the previously quiet corner of Dorset and left the outside world puzzling over what could have caused such offence.
Now, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a complaint over the names of Chinese laundrette workers Chop Chop and Wishy-Washy in the script led to the production’s axeing, according to villagers.
The complainant, thought to be the mother of a cast member, had written to the production team to express her concerns over the names of the characters. She feared the names might upset audience members, particularly those from ethnic minorities.
After committee deliberations, the production team decided it would not be possible to change the script and their only option was to cancel the show.
Bowel cancer charity Ducks & Drakes, Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance and a maintenance fund for the village hall are set to miss out on hundreds of pounds in donations now that the show and raffle have been called off.
Villagers are quietly furious and disappointed after the cancellation of what would have been the first in-person performance since Covid, destroying months of hard work by volunteers and child performers.
Jenny Norman, director of the pantomime, had told locals that the long-standing holiday performance would be pulled over ‘unease about cultural sensitivity’ and explained that the volunteer production team did not think it would be possible to ‘sanitise’ the script.
Brian Hepworth, 87, whose wife was in the production team, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I am totally disgusted that the pantomime has been cancelled. It is terrible that this country is being brought to its knees with nonsense like this. The money raised from the pantomime helps to keep the village hall in good nick. Now that the show has been cancelled, the hall will face a big loss.’
Vicki Lovegrove-Fray, 47, said: ‘I was planning on taking my fiveyear-old son to the pantomime but now we can’t go – it is such a shame that the play has been cancelled.’
Children in the Ansty community began auditioning for the Madcap production of Aladdin on September 19. Director Ms Norman – who has been lauded as an upstanding member of the community and has taken in a family of Ukrainian refugees – wrote on Facebook: ‘It is with regret that Madcap [Productions] has found it necessary to cancel this year’s production of Aladdin following expressions of unease about cultural insensitivity that were made to the cast.’
Mother Katie Hill expressed her frustration that the show had been dropped at such short notice, saying: ‘It is a very difficult conversation to have with a sevenyear-old who has overcome so many challenges to learn their lines!’
Tickets, which cost between £3.50 and £5, are being refunded.