Hilda, we've always taken all the grandchildren to pantos. My youngest granddaughter, eight, is dancing in Jack and the Beanstalk at Consett for the third year running.
My grandson is 13 and has autism. We take ear defenders with us, so he can wear them if necessary. He is always surrounded by family, and wears a coat with a hood to block out the sound of noisy kids if necessary. He has got better with age. It's always more about expectation, and not knowing what will happen with him, even things he's been to lots of times before. He's the same at Bonfire Night, really worked up before he goes and enjoys it when he gets there.
The worst one he went to was when Brian Blessed was the voice of the giant. We kept telling him he would be used to the noise before he heard the giant, but the first voice we heard was Brian Blessed's. He had tears in his eyes then, but he enjoyed it and was joining in by the end.
Middle granddaughter was only twenty months old when we took her. It was her great grandmother's 80th birthday on New Year's Day. We had a front balcony row, so she could play on the stairs if necessary.