The joy of Panto - what better way to finish off the year!

If you didn’t go to panto this year – shame on you! Just make sure it’s on your list for 2026.

Panto at Christmas is a high spot of the year for me. After the rigours of a busy, demanding year it’s great to get into a dark theatre and shout my head off. The old familiar jokes are wheeled out, the same call and response, the silliness of water pistols, actors running through the audience and kids up on stage. It’s comforting and fun at the same time.

This is quintessentially British

I used to run a leadership workshop with people from different cultures. One evening was always set aside to share something special from your culture that others may not understand. I used to wrack my brains for ideas about UK. What was there that no one would know about? Brits have had a finger in so many pies – not always for the best – that it was tough to find something positive and unusual. Morris dancing was one option…..

 

Then I thought of Panto

Panto – or pantomime – is the one art form that rarely strays from the UK. It is a staple of every Christmas in most towns in UK.

Some say we are born knowing the call and response. When ‘he’s behind you’ is dropped into standard conversation someone is sure to respond with ‘oh no he isn’t’ and we all fall about laughing.

One of my strongest childhood memories was sitting on the front row of the theatre and being throw a rubber hammer by Beryl Reed and Tommy Cooper. (really showing my age here!) No idea where the hammer ended up, but we treasured it for years.

Try explaining it

So I took my story about Panto to a culture sharing evening and the looks of total confusion remain with me to this day. How can I describe the joy of the ghost gag (we’ll have to do it again then, won’t we? Oops), shouting to warn Buttons that someone is pinching the parcel he put on the side of the stage or the inevitable grotty wedding dress in the finale?

The main characters - the dame (always a man as a caricature woman), the Fairy who makes it all work out in the end (DIvina Di Campo in the photo here), the love interest (Cinderella and the prince) the stooge who loves the pretty girl and is son to the dame. and - of course - the baddy. We must have someone to boo. Final touch - political and cheeky jokes carefully hidden from the kids, intended for parents alone.

I asked a panto actor to describe it and you can see his response here from my Instagram.

You just have to go

So I no longer attempt an explanation. If you don’t know Panto and you’d like to, find a Brit and ask them to take you.

We sat next to a European family last year and they were totally bemused. So we talked them through the process and they were soon shouting alongside us. This is one occasion when a role model is very helpful – then you don’t feel so much of an idiot. Panto is definitely a community sport – being in it together is part of the fun.

So see you next year – Oh yes I will!