Ring out the bells it’s THAT time of year again boys and girls, time for thigh-slapping, parody song singing, dames and principal boys, magic lamps, mothers with egg fixations and even Star Wars, yes it’s panto time on the gay scene. We spoke to cast members and people behind the scenes to tell you the story of all the magical pantomimes and some Christmas shows this year… It’s behind you!
Mother Goose Cracks One Out
Above The Stag Theatre from Tuesday 27 November
‘This is our first panto in the new theatre and we’ve gone bigger and better than ever with the sets and the costumes. We really want to blow people away with the look of it, but at the heart is some brilliantly witty writing, that is saucy and rude but never offensive, great original songs and a very strong cast, especially our wonderful dame Matthew Baldwin’ Andrew Beckett – Director
Mother Goose is a very kind woman who’s a bit rough around the edges but lovely to everyone. A bad fairy makes a bet with a good fairy that he can corrupt this good person and when he makes her beautiful and rich she becomes horrible, so there’s a moral right there boys and girls. We also meet Mother Goose’s son Tommy and his boyfriend plus Tommy’s father, Squire Amos. We have brilliant songs and some fantastic sets this year.’ Matthew Baldwin – Mother Goose
Tickets from abovethestag.com
Star Whores
The Two Brewers from Wednesday 12 December
‘The original Star Wars films actually have everything you need for a panto, a boy hero and a princess with a secret identity, a wizard, magic and a really kick ass villain so we were halfway there from the start. We’ve taken elements from all the films and created a new story set in the Star Wars universe with high budget action sequences, state of the art special effects and a load of camp musical numbers. You can expect a host of your favourite characters with a new twist, such as C3PHo, Kylo Rentboy and our villain, who’s name I’m not going to reveal, but I can reveal she’s played by Tanya Hyde and this year we have Marsha Mallow joining us as well as some of our brilliant regulars including Damien as a very scantily dressed Luke.’ Lawrence Bolton – Writer and Director
Tickets from outsavvy.com
Rubbed
The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, from Wednesday 28 November
‘I play numerous roles as I have done for the last four years which is great fun for me. The show has got all the traditional panto elements, just delivered in our own rogue RVT style and in these difficult times we just want to have some fun with a bit of glitter, sing-along songs and loads of laughs.’ Faye Reeves – various characters
‘As the Dalai Lama said, ‘to break the rules one must first know the rules’ … so if you took a traditional panto and fed it lots of gin that would be The RVT panto. We have a great script by Paul and Tim from Pop Horror, a fantastic director in Tim Macarthur and the same brilliant cast as last year because they were so good.’
Catia Ciarico – Producer
Tickets from vauxhalltavern.com
Photos chrisjepson.com
Miss Hope Springs presents Christmas Agogo
The Two Brewers: Sunday 2 December, show at 5pm
Recovering showgirl Miss Hope Springs is back at the Two Brewers with the glorious, glitterfest that is Christmas Agogo. Based upon her unaired 1972 TV special this festive smorgasbord features songs from Hope at the piano, including Santa is a Woman, Paper Snow and Christmas Calypso plus stories covering her life in London, Paris, LA and … Dungeness. The show at The Brewers is the first in series of December dates in London and across the country.
Tickets and details for all dates are available from misshopesprings.com
Tinderella
The Canal Cafe Theatre: Wednesday 5 to 29 December
Tinderella is an all-singing, all-dancing all-smut panto. It’s a boy-meets-girl romance when Ella swipes right and goes on a date with her ‘Prince’… Roger…. to Nando’s. Fairy Matchmaker swaps out Bibbidy Bobbedy Bo for Rihanna and Eminem and she’s bringing an aubergine along for the ride.
Tickets from canalcafetheatre.com
Buttons: A Cinderella Story
King’s Head Theatre: Friday 23 November to 5 January
The first of three Christmas treats at The King’s Head Theatre in Islington, Buttons is an adult panto that’s packed with toe-tapping musical numbers, side-splitting puns, jaw-dropping magic, mischief and a ludicrously tall Dame. This Christmas cracker is definitely for the grown ups but there’s some child friendly matinees as well, details on the website.
Tickets from kingsheadtheatre.com
The Crumple Zone
King’s Head Theatre: Saturday 24 November to 9 December
This Christmas comedy takes pace in a Staten Island apartment over the Christmas holiday season when four friends and a visitor find themselves in a festive sleepover. We get some ghastly personality clashes and fallings out, drunken misbehaviour, inappropriate entanglements, revelations, tears and lots of laughs.
Tickets from kingsheadtheatre.com
The Boy Under The Christmas Tree
The King’s Head Theatre: Tuesday 11 December to 5 January
Lawrence wakes up on Christmas morning with a bad hangover and an almost naked young man under his tree. The beautiful youth doesn’t know who he is or how he got there but the local copper suspects he’s a wanted criminal and as for Santa Claus he’s on another planet. This Christmas show with a difference is sexy, a bit surreal, quite bizarre and very funny.
Tickets from kingsheadtheatre.com
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