Advertisement

The show must go on: how to still see panto this Christmas

how to watch christmas pantomimes during covid coronavirus 2020
how to watch christmas pantomimes during covid coronavirus 2020

This was going to be the year of next to no panto, remember? Very recently – just a few weeks ago – it looked as though, for the first time since it emerged in its modern recognisable form in the 1880s, the mainstay of our theatrical calendar was a goner. The great British panto – which had been upheld as a riotous, fun-loving tradition in the First and Second World Wars, persisting even during the Spanish flu pandemic – had been felled by Covid-19, and we were going to have to hold our breath until 2021.

Admittedly, that’s a simplistic account of a saga that has seen a lot of “Oh no it isn’t!”, “Oh yes it is!” (going ahead) moments as the theatreland shutdown has worn on. The unexpected villain of the piece was Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, who on Radio 4 in early July threw a bucket of cold water on the idea of a return to normal saying: “You’ve got [all ages] from granny to grandchild, you’ve got kids shouting and screaming… it’s highly interactive – there’s usually bubble soap being chucked around… All of those represent huge transmission risks… It looks challenging.”

At the start of August, Qdos, the biggest purveyors of panto in the land, largely threw in the towel when it emerged that social distancing wouldn’t be reviewed until November. But now there’s a flowering of optimism – and more than that, with a profusion of announcements about (socially distanced) panto returning, a feeling abroad that 2020 might turn out to be an unusually innovative year.

According to a leading authority on the genre, the academic and curator Simon Sladen, who runs a National Database of Pantomime Performance, the fightback in the past fortnight has been noticeable, courage breading courage.

Albeit there are some 191 venues without a panto that would normally have staged one, so far the UK has seen 99 confirmed cases of a panto outbreak (playing at 124 venues). The crown jewel of pantos – at the London Palladium – will return with an all-star cast (including Elaine Paige and Julian Clary) and a variety-show format – assisted by a panto promotional scheme with the National Lottery (which will buy some of the necessarily empty seats, helping to balance the books).

Further Lottery-backed pantos will be announced, but elsewhere Blackpool Grand is staging a specially written one-act pantomime fundraiser (Pantomonium!), Nottingham Playhouse is rustling up a Covid-secure Cinderella, as is Theatre Royal Windsor (starring Britt Ekland), the National is surprise-offering Dick Whittington (only the second panto in its history) and the West End will get a run of Potted Panto, seven classics in 70 minutes – the ultimate catch-up.

Dick Whittington performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford last Christmas - Alastair Muir
Dick Whittington performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford last Christmas - Alastair Muir

What’s going on? Sladen argues that, paradoxically, the situation is so dire that for some venues and producers, it’s better to do something than nothing: “You get the sense that they’re saying, ‘It’s so bad this year, we’ll be happy to break even’.” The casts are smaller, the shows shorter. “It’s small acts of defiance,” he says. “Everyone knows the show could get cancelled the day before [swift, automatic refunds are being widely factored in] but there has to be hope. Otherwise these theatres will be dead for over a year and audiences lost.”

Nottingham Playhouse announced its show even as the city was going back into tighter restrictions. “We’re determined to do it,” says Stephanie Sirr, chief executive. “It’s not going to make any money, but doing it keeps faith with the relationship we have with the public. People need family-friendly fun, it’s health-giving. The value is more than the financial risk. It’s a morale boost to the city – we’re saying ‘Don’t despair!’.”

Panto has long been known as the theatrical goose that lays golden eggs. The Stage calculated that in the 10-week festive period in 2015, there were more than 3 million panto admissions, with receipts of £58.6 million. This year, it looks like there are going to be around a third of the normal number of productions.

Trends are already detectable – Cinderella (logistically challenging) is trailing in popularity for once. “Sleeping Beauty is at the top – perhaps something to do with Operation Sleeping Beauty,” Sladen notes. “Certainly, Rapunzel is suddenly up there – what better isolation story is there?” “What really excites me is that panto might get satirical and topical again,” he adds, also noting an explosion of pantos streamed live or recorded to be watched on demand (16 in all), including a new phenomenon this year: the bespoke, home-viewing pantomime.

The poster-boy for this new form is actor and director Peter Duncan, of Blue Peter presenting fame, who has gone the full hog with a lavish, lockdown-referencing version of Jack and the Beanstalk, self-financed and filmed in his back garden in south London, involving a cast and crew of almost 30.

When I drop in on him in the closing stages of the three-week shoot he is dressed in panto dame rig-out – pink regency wig, cupcake motif dress and colourful maquillage – and overseeing the ruinously messy slosh scene with Jack (Sam Ebenezer) and the Squire (Ian Talbot). Elsewhere the panto cow (part occupied by his sister Julia) lumbers on the lawn and there’s a sound engineer holed up in the greenhouse.

Peter Duncan is playing Dame Trott in a production of Jack and the Beanstalk filmed in his garden in south London
Peter Duncan is playing Dame Trott in a production of Jack and the Beanstalk filmed in his garden in south London

Having directed pantos galore in his time (and played the dame in a play written by his daughter Katie), Duncan, 66, is in his element, having a ball.

“This is in my blood,” he says, recalling his childhood with a father and mother who produced and starred in their own pantos, his father as a comedy character, mother as the principal boy. “My first memory is sitting in the wings, looking up at the lights.”

From the age of four he’d go on stage as the audience plant during the singalong, playing the stooge, getting the laughs. He cautions that the National needs to ensure they’ve booked some funny people. “It’s not as easy as it looks,” he says. “When a big institution says they’re going to put on a panto, my showbiz tentacles twitch. You’ve got to make sure you’ve got people who can do it.”

He thinks those watching his Jack will make a party of it, and shout out “It’s behind you!” at the screen – “I’ve built participation into the structure,” he says. And though it’s not the same as being there, his panto is plainly Covid-proof. “I admire the positivity of theatres but you never know which way the wind will blow with this virus and people are being cautious right now. They don’t want to get ill.

“I always thought there might be some people who would enjoy the idea of a big panto who wouldn’t want to go to a theatre this year,” he says. “We’ll see!” Indeed. More than ever before, the proof of the panto pudding will be in the eating.

Cinderella runs at Nottingham Playhouse Nov 27  -  Jan 16, nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk. Jack and the Beanstalk will be available from Dec 4 to Jan 10, tickets start at £20 (pantoonline.co.uk). For an updated list of 2020 pantos, visit britishtheatreguide.info

Are you a regular panto-goer? Are you hoping to attend this year? Tell us in the comments section below