Me and Jackie enjoy watching amateur and professional pantomimes, but we both believe that the real beating heart of traditional panto lies in all the wonderful amateur shows put on in the UK and around the world. For us, these shows which are staged in village halls, church buildings and community centres, represent the true essence of British panto.
A few years ago we went to watch a group perform one of our pantos who had lost their venue just weeks before the show opened, but they managed to get the use of a small hall provided by the local council which had no stage, lighting set-up or dressing rooms. Undeterred, they erected a makeshift stage using pallets covered with boards. A wire was stung across stage and curtains were attached to make wing curtains. The lighting was one spotlight at the back of the hall, and the actors used a kitchen as an impromptu dressing room and the show went ahead.
Another group in Australia also lost their venue at short notice and proceeded to put on a fantastic outdoor show of our Scrooge panto. A few minutes into the first scene, a duck left the nearby lake and waddled across the stage and an audience member threw it a piece of bread and got the biggest laugh of the evening.
The smallest venue we’ve ever visited was a little church building in Halifax which seated just sixty people. The audience were almost within touching distance of the actors, and it proved to be one of the best shows we’ve ever seen.
We never cease to be amazed at just how inventive and creative some amateur groups are and have witnessed special effects that wouldn’t be out of place in a professional show.
So, if you’re looking for a panto to take your kids or grandkids to. Please remember that your local amateur group might well be putting on a show to rival some of the professional ones. They might not be able to compete in spectacle, but for sheer fun and laughter they’re definitely hard to beat. It will almost certainly cost a fraction of what it would have to watch a professional show and you might see people onstage who you actually know. So why not give them a try and who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised by what you see.