Over the next few weeks, thousands of people who never usually step inside a theatre will make their annual pilgrimage to the local panto. Most will have a thoroughly good time. Aladdin will be rubbing his magic lamp at at Nottingham Playhouse and the Lyric in Hammersmith, London, while Sleeping Beauty will be awoken at the Hackney Empire, London, and the evil Snaw Queen will be cancelling Christmas at the Tron in Glasgow.
But why doesn’t people’s experience of panto turn them into regular theatre-goers? Perhaps it’s because many theatres, including subsidised ones, only take panto seriously in terms of the contribution it makes to their balance sheets rather than the wider artistic programme or audience development. Panto audiences intuit that while the festive show is for them, the rest of the year’s programme is not.
There is often a complete disconnect between a theatre’s Christmas season and what it does over the rest of the year, just as there is often a disconnect between the work a theatre does with the community and what it does on its main stages. Entirely different people make this type of work from those who contribute to the programme over the rest of the year. The panto is sometimes farmed out completely. Of course, particular areas sometimes need specialist skills: panto experts Susie McKenna (at Hackney Empire), Kenneth Alan Taylor (Nottingham Playhouse) and Berwick Kaler (Theatre Royal in York) deliver year after year.
But if theatres were to think more about pantomime as an artform, rather than a mere money spinner, they might reap unexpected benefits. The Stage recently ran a poll asking if pantos should be included as a category in mainstream theatre awards. It would be great if the Critics’ Circle awards included a best dame or if a panto script won best new play. Otherwise it suggests that the Victorian distinction between legit and non-legit theatre still holds sway in the 21st century. A really great panto is as much a thing of value and beauty as a powerful revival of Yerma.
This all came to mind hearing the designer Ian MacNeil talking at a recent Mousetrap Theatre Projects workshop. He suggested that one of the reasons why the Lyric Hammersmith under Sean Holmes was capable of delivering all sorts of shows, that took us by surprise and made us think, was in part because they took panto seriously. This year’s Lyric panto is written by Joel Horwood (whose co-adaption with Emma Rice of The Little Match Girl and other tales is at the Sam Wanamaker in London this winter). And it’s directed by Ellen McDougall, artistic director designate of the Gate. I wish more theatres looked to their most radical artists to dish up the annual fun.
MacNeil suggested that what writers, directors and designers learn from doing panto is how to give audiences a really good time. “It’s about engagement and making the audience feel connected to each other and to what is happening on stage.” Which sums up the panto tradition, and indeed any wonderful piece of theatre, including the greatest tragedies. There is much to be learned from that.
