It’s panto time. Oh yes it is! (From This Is Local London)

It’s panto time. Oh yes it is!

5:40pm Saturday 24th December 2011 in Colin Baker

Whenever I tell anyone that I am appearing in panto, the immediate response is usually ‘Oh no you’re not!’ This is not to suggest that people assume that I’m a liar or that no one would employ the likes of me to perform in panto. It is simply a conditioned reflex that confirms the still very strong part that panto plays in the Christmas celebrations in this country.

Since 1970, when I played Lord Growlie (who he?) in the Wizard of Oz in Guildford, I have appeared in 31 pantomimes in places as far apart as Cork, Truro and Hull. This year I am in Mansfield being Fleshcreep, the giant’s evil henchman, in Jack and the Beanstalk.

A henchman is de rigeur in this case given the practical difficulties of having the giant appear too often. Credible dwarves are easier to find than giants, though if you read the papers this week it would seem that times are tough for Snow White’s little chums in Wolverhampton this year.

The nature of panto has evolved over the decades that I have been aware of it. It seems that some subjects are more popular than others, irrespective of who is appearing in them. I am told that if a story has been Disney-fied then the box office receipts tend to be better.

So Peter Pan, Snow White and Cinderella are audience attracters for theatres whereas good old Dick Whittington is fading, sadly. And when did you last see a Goldilocks or Mother Goose being performed?

I went to my first panto in Manchester as a child, when I saw Jewell and Warris, Dickie Henderson and the greatest ever dame, in my opinion, Norman Evans, with a chorus of a dozen or more dancers, a full orchestra and Morecambe and Wise at the bottom of the bill. This was when pantos went on until March and the theatres were full for the duration. But there was little or no telly then. The season has shrunk and very few reach the end of January now, but the annual pantomime still remains the security that theatres have of knowing that for two months at least they can reliably attract much larger audiences than can be the case during the rest of the year.

When theatres struggle to balance the books and subsidies are being cut, the annual pantomime can be a budget saver. Long may it continue.