London - Mother Goose Christmas Panto with Ian McKellen

My friends Alison and Colin and I went to the Duke of York Theatre in London's West End to see Ian McKellen in the Panto, Mother Goose.

Our seats were below the first balcony in what would be called 'Orchestra seats' in the States but are called 'Stalls' here in the UK

Pantomime is a traditional British Christmas treat affectionately referred to as ‘Panto’ and is best described as organised chaos, comedy and fun wrapped around a popular fairy story with lots of audience participation. The stories tell of good versus evil and there is always a happy ending.

In order to be considered a real pantomime there are certain characters that must be included:

A Dame (“a fella in a frock)– this role requires a large gregarious outgoing personality. Her clothes are often outlandish and very colourful; there will be many costume changes. The make up also has to be exaggerated.

Good Fairy Queen and the Villain (you get your chance here to practice your boos and hissing!). Both characters tend to appear or disappear in puffs of smoke! The good fairy enters from stage right (left from the audience's perspective) and the villain enters from stage left (right from the audience's perspective). This convention goes back to the medieval mystery plays, where the right side of the stage symbolised Heaven and the left side symbolised Hell.

Risqué double entendre, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases. This is, in theory, over the heads of the children in the audience and is for the entertainment of the adults.

Audience participation, including calls of "He's behind you!" (or "Look behind you!"), and "Oh, yes it is!" and "Oh, no it isn't!" The audience is always encouraged to hiss or jeer at the villain and "awwwww" the poor victims.

Music may be original but is more likely to combine well-known tunes with re-written lyrics. At least one "audience participation" song is traditional: Ours was ‘Sweet Caroline’

The animal, played by an actor in "animal skin" or animal costume. It is often a pantomime horse or cow (We had a llama)

A slapstick comedy routine may be performed, often a decorating or baking scene, with humour based on throwing messy substances.

There was a great number with a Camilla parody where she wore a hat too big to get through the door and sang 'Money, Money, Money in a Rich Man's World' playing castanets. Absolutely hilarious! Couldn't find pictures of it anywhere online.

The Chorus appears in multiple scenes (often as different characters while still wearing their animal costumes) and who perform a variety of songs and dances throughout the show. Because of their multiple roles, they may have as much stage-time as the lead characters themselves.

At some point during the performance, characters including the Dame and the comic will sit on a bench and sing a cheerful song to forget their fears. The thing they fear, often a ghost, appears behind them, but at first the characters ignore the audience's warnings of danger. The characters soon circle the bench, followed by the ghost, as the audience cries "It's behind you!"