“Kids love a mosh pit! They love a headbang,” says Tali Clarke, the writer and director of a queer punk pantomime, Madre Goose, which is streamed this month.
Madre Goose tells the story of an LGBTQ+ community of activists rallying against gentrification and materialism. All the wacky costumes, silly characters and daft jokes are as you’d expect from panto, but it has punk songs, psychedelic green-screen backgrounds and embraces inclusivity.
“The problem with a lot of pantos, when you start to look, is they’re often quite racist, they stick to traditions that are completely outdated,” Clarke tells me. “They can be quite homophobic and transphobic and they have really binary roles. Often the lead boy is played by a woman but all the narratives are the same when it comes to man, woman, beauty … A lot of individuals feel quite alienated by that, and families feel alienated.”
Clarke is the founder of a community group, Pride Punx, which she started in London in 2016 as a float at the London Pride parade. Bands played on the open-top truck and a gaggle of LGBTQ+ punks pogoed behind. The project was designed as a bridge between the punk scene and mainstream LGBTQ+ culture.
“I wanted to create something inclusive while bringing an alternative element to it,” Clarke explains. “I wanted to keep it grimy, keep it DIY. That’s what Pride Punx has always done. Take things that aren’t always considered to be punk and bring it in.”
The panto is a spin on Mother Goose with the evil demon king Mephisto disguised as a property developer who increases the rents of everybody on the estate. Madre Goose leads the resistance as they redistribute wealth and battle against eviction and corruption. Three of the characters identify as non-binary, with intro cards appearing to indicate the characters’ pronouns at the beginning.
But with the political undertones, is Madre Goose for everyone?
“It’s setting a scene that could be viewed as political or could be read quite simply. I don’t think any of it is offensively political, there aren’t any direct viewpoints being pushed. Original panto can be quite forceful in the way it says, this is good, this is bad, this is beauty, this is male, this is female. Panto does that already pretty strongly.”
The theatre community have taken hit after hit this year. The national Covid tiers have induced “shock and heartbreak” in theatres and touring companies; some have taken their pantos on the road and others may have to close their doors for good.
“For most theatres, their main income is panto. So it’s quite a big cultural impact. Theatres are really feeling it now, with the year we’ve had,” Clarke says. “Panto is such a uniquely ridiculous tradition. It’s a lovely side to Christmas and it’s really kid-centric. This year has been hard for everyone, but it’s been really hard on a lot of kids.”
She found the actors from Red Rash Inn, an immersive theatre collective who have performed at Boomtown festival and pride themselves on celebrating “diversity, gender fluidity, body positivity and sexual freedom”.
Clarke tells me: “They’re amazing with their costumes and makeup, and are up for experimenting and having a laugh, it’s the perfect collaboration, really.”
For the music, she has stayed true to her punk roots while keeping it varied – “a bit of heaviness but also showing the diversity of alternative music as well”. Among the bands featured are Scottish hardcore punks Gay Panic Defence.
Putting the production together during lockdown has been a challenge. After sending everybody green screens, she remotely directed each scene via Zoom, asking the actors to record themselves with their phones and send the clips to her. She even had to transform her house into a makeshift studio. During pre-production, in a bleak and unexpected case of life imitating art, one of the performers was evicted from their squat and became homeless. “It was a really terrible time for them, but they still wanted to take part. So they came to my house and we did it socially distanced.”
The panto is available on a pay-what-you-can basis and is raising money for The Outside Project, a homelessness charity that creates safe spaces and shelters for the homeless members of the LGBTQ+ community. But it’s also about “ending the year on a big ridiculous bang,” says Clarke. “It’s just a load of fun.”
Junior headbangers and others are invited to a live fundraising watch party on 21 December, when the pre-recorded show will be screened and the cast will join live to encourage audience participation.
Madre Goose is available until 10 January
