Special Features - Oh no it isn't! Oh yes it is!

Oh no it isn't! Oh yes it is!
(13/12/07)

The pantomime season is in full swing with performances of many old British favourites being rolled out across the UK.

Traditional

Traditionally performed in December around Christmas, British pantomime - also known as panto - is a popular form of theatre, mainly for family audiences. Most pantos incorporate song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, in-jokes, audience participation and mild sexual innuendo.

There is usually a lot of double entendres, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases which, in theory, is over the heads of the children in the audience.

This year's shows

This year's offerings range from Sleeping Beauty in Belfast, Aladdin in Birmingham and York, Snow White in Blackburn and Southport, Mother Goose at Felixstowe and Dick Whittington in Salford.

Over the past few years, new shows have emerged, sometimes based on children's stories, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Scrooge the Musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Peter Pan, Guys and Dolls and Dr Doolittle. All these are being performed somewhere in the UK this season.

TV and pop stars

TV and pop stars often do a stint in panto and this year is no exception. Golden oldie, Tommy Steele, is in Dr Doolittle in Liverpool; actor John Barrowman in Sleeping Beauty in Birmingham; actor Shane Ritchie in Scrooge the Musical in the same city, and Gabrielle Bradshaw (CBBC's Heartbeat) in Jack in the Beanstalk in Folkestone.

Cinderella at London's Old Vic is written by Stephen Fry and stars Pauline Collins as the Fairy Godmother, along with several West End actors.

Rooney in Sunderland

But Sunderland Empire in the north-east of England has probably outdone everybody else this year. It has persuaded legendary Hollywood actor, Mickey Rooney to make his panto debut in Cinderella as Baron Hardup, with his wife Jan Rooney playing the Fairy Godmother. Les Dennis plays Buttons and pop star, Michelle Heaton, is Cinderella.

Panto has a number of conventions, some of which have changed a little over the years, but usually include:

The leading male juvenile character (the principal boy) - played by a young woman.

An older woman (the pantomime dame - often the hero's mother) - usually played by a man in drag.

Audience participation, including calls of "look behind you!" and "Oh, yes it is!" or "Oh, no it isn't!" The audience is always encouraged to "boo" the villain.

Find out more

For more details of all this year's pantomimes and Christmas shows visit the This is Theatre website which has dates, places, times and where to get tickets. Pantomimes in the UK is another useful source, and on BBC England, via the interactive map, you can get a helpful round-up of what is happening locally around the country.