Pantomime - anyone still attend these?

We are going to the local panto. Two members of the cast live in our street so we will be going really to support them. (Dont know which panto it is)

My husband and myself took our two granddaughters, one 9 and one 3, to the Cinderella panto in Hull today. It was fantastic and both girls enjoyed it so much, laughing, singing, shouting, clapping it was a joy to behold. My sister and I would have been those children 60 years ago in the same theatre.

Love it, this year we went to a local theatre to see Cinderella, lacking in the special affects and the atmosphere of the big theatres, but so well done, and absolutely hilarious.
My youngest granddaughter threw herself into it completely, a really good afternoon, put us all in a Christmassy mood.

Yes it’s one of my highlights at Christmas. I take my young GS and this will be his third one. We are going next Wednesday and this year I’ve even persuaded Grandad to come with us. It’s such fun and I love seeing the children having a good time. It’s also a good way of introducing children of the joys of going to the theatre.

Parsley3

We all saw the pantomime of Alladin this year. We love it and cheered and booed with gusto. It is a very British tradition, I think.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2JZ6TSqnd480n90dzN77r1Q/where-does-pantomime-really-come-from

But you're right, it's now a very British tradition!

Yes it's a family tradition. Even though the older grandchildren are now in their teens they still insist on going and thoroughly enjoy it.

We went with six of our eight grandchildren and their parents, 11 of us and everyone loved Beauty and the Beast. It is a local Am Dram one, nobody famous, things go wrong and the cast corpse at their mistakes, but it is such a lovely event for children. Collection by the cast members afterwards for the local hospice in the foyer, and the children can have their photo taken with cast members, with or without donations!

We’ve been to two this year with grandchildren. One a glitzy production of Cinderella with amazing special effects and real ponies, the other Jack and the Beanstalk in a small local theatre, where the audience were all very close to the action. I enjoyed them both, but for me it’s very much about seeing the excitement and laughter on the children’s faces. I don’t think I’ll still be going when they feel they’re too old for panto, but I do hope the tradition goes on forever.

Pantomime I LOVE. I have taken my GC. Its a ritual.

For the 1st time i went to an amature dramatic show of the panto Aladdin this year and it was fantastic, absolutely brilliant. All the cast gathered after the show for us to chat to and have photos, which we did. I decided there and then no more panto at the theatre in town.

FANTASTIC ..... wouldn't have it any other way ..... 😃

We saw Aladdin at our small local theatre. Very traditional, Aladdin was played by a man but we had widow twanky played as is tradition by a large man in wigs and frocks. Lots of booing of the villain, shouts of he’s behind you and a beautiful Princess. Our 4 children, 4, 5, 7 and 8 absolutely loved it.

We all saw the pantomime of Alladin this year. We love it and cheered and booed with gusto. It is a very British tradition, I think.

Never liked them (and haven't bothered to analyse) but I think they are a great tradition.

It gives children the opportunity to be anarchic, and part of the whole show.

I took my son when he was around 6 or 7, determined not to spoil things by letting on that I didn't like panto. Ed Stewart ("Stewpot") was part of the show and my son was invited backstage to meet him.

Unfortunately, my son decided to be a smart arse - I'd told him to say "hello Stewpot", instead he said, "hello Stupid" and giggled at his own 'wit'. Stewpot was very kind and told me not to worry because it happened frequently and he didn't mind, and that he'd probably have reacted similarly!

That was the end of pantomime for us.

My family (12 of us) went to see Cinderella at our local theatre. Very traditional, ugly sisters - men and prince was a girl. It was brilliant, it was the first time for my 3 year old granddaughter, I thought she may be too young but she was entranced by the whole thing.
When they asked for children to go onto the stage her hand shot up and she was picked, maybe as she was dressed as Cinderella.
We were shocked but she was so confident, we were all in tears and so was a lot of the audience.
Wonderful memories.

Thoroughly enjoy panto.

Several years ago we saw Jimmy Osmond in Cinderella, in Llandudno. We, my Gds, son ,daughter and their spouses have never laughed so much. It was just magical and so very funny.

I took my nieces to see Cinderella at the Palladium back in the mid eighties. Dame Anna Neagle was the Fairy Godmother, Paul Nicholas as the Prince and small white ponies for the. carriage. We all loved it.

I loathe pantos, and was delighted when my sons were old enough for a different type of show at Christmas.

But I’ll be going to our local one this year, as one of my daughters-in-law is the principal boy.

We used to take our children to the pantso when they were young, they loved them. I particularly remember Peter Pan "Dirty Den" played Captain Hook. Richmond Theatre was only a couple of miles away and that's where they were staged. I took my granddaughter to see The Gruffalo when she was about 3 which was also staged. Our kids eventually out grew oit of pantomimes "oh yes they did" and we later took them to a couple of West End productions when they were a bit older such as Billy Elliott and Saturday Night Fever.

We went to an amateur production of Aladdin just before Christmas. It was great fun, made all the more amusing by the wholehearted participation of the children in the audience.
The Dame was a man and the principal boy was played by a girl and there was the obligatory animal in it, too. 😁

My husband and I went to the Harrogate theatre to see Dick Whittington while we were there for the Country Living Christmas Fair. We went to the evening performance, the stalls were packed with Brownies and Guides. Behind us were visitors from Australia who had never seen panto before.
It was an absolute hoot! Enjoyed by all.

Yes

I decided when I was about six that I didn’t like pantomimes. I didn’t like the way they messed up the stories. I liked plays, I liked ballets, but not pantomimes. I’ve never given then a chance since. My children were happy with the theatre we did take them to, which didn’t include pantomimes.

Our whole family go to a panto every year and it's become the highlight of our Christmas. As we leave the theatre we book for the next year! It makes no difference what the pantomime is, it's just the whole family being together, having fun and seeing the little ones really getting into the spirit of it all. It's so good to see hundreds of families, all in the same place, all having a good time.

My lot are at the pantomime today. Haven’t heard how they got on; the youngest might be a little bit too young for it so I told them to take lots of sweets.We used to take our eldest grandson to the pantomime each year and used to practice our ‘behind you’s’ for ages before we went to the performance. I miss our village pantomimes and still remember them with such fondness, especially the camel whose eye kept dropping out. It was the highlight of our village calendar but sadly no one seems to have the time to do one these days.

We used to take our daughter, she now takes me. We are going to see Mother Goose this season.