THERE are few things that are more quintessentially British than The Christmas Pantomime. You only have to sit next to an American or mainland European in an audience and you quickly realise just how unique panto is, no matter how much the Italians might claim it as the child of commedia dell’arte! From those earliest…
IT’s that time of year when audience participation is as much part of the entertainment as the mincing Dame and the thigh-slapping principal boy – and it doesn’t just have to be in pantomime. Audiences love singing carols and at Trowbridge Chorus’s joyous Christmas concert, they were also invited to join in the Twelve Days…
FOLK music is, by its very nature, an oral tradition, often linked to storytelling, as with the great ballads of the northern Borders. They would be handed down by singers and within families, and because repetition is a great aid to memory, they often contain repeated lines, couplets or choruses. And then there are the…
IN the six years since Paul Hendy and Emily Wood took over the creaky, clunky Octagon panto-mimes, they have transformed the Yeovil Christmas show into something that any professional theatre in the country could be proud of. And this year’s Cinderella, on until 7th January, is a fantastic show from beginning to end, with not…
FROME’s Merlin company has built up an eager audience for its multi-media Christmas shows, and they have reached new heights this year with Claudia Pepler’s adaptation of Hansel and Gretel. With an enviable number of young men and women with good singing voices, a powerfully relevant story and some anthems that deserve to have a…
WHAT do you need for a terrific pantomime? There could be lots of answers but I suggest a strong and familiar story, lots of songs, colourful costumes and sets, an exuberant Dame, a witty knockabout, an attractive central couple and a really hissable villain. Perform it in what is probably the prettiest theatre in the…
IF you are holding out for a hero, you need go no further than Salisbury. The Playhouse’s Jack is everything you could want – handsome, brave and he sings like an angel (not surprising when you read that actor Sam Harrison is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music). Mind you, he doesn’t impress…
ON the day when the vainglorious buffoon Donald Trump “decided” that the right thing to do was to proclaim Jerusalem capital of Israel, it seemed ironic to listen to the closing song of Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent’s seventies Rock Nativity, with its message of hope and love and peace. The Romans had taken over…
THERE’S no hint of pantomime about the Bristol Old Vic offering this Christmas, but it’s a show that will stay in the memory and offer a sharp stab each time you think of the homeless and needy this festive season. It has been a tumultuous time for Emma Rice, one of the most controversial figures…
JUDGING from the response from the excited children half-sitting on cushions around the “stage” in the Lantern, Kid Carpet’s Snow Globe is a great success. With the audience on three sides, father and children’s entertainer Kit calls in all his musical and electronic gizmo talents to tell the story. Gary Barlow has hired Kit the…