Pantomime

Haven’t posted for the last couple of days. Life has been busy. On Thursday night we were out at the theatre. To be precise: We were out at the pantomime! Pantomime, at least in the sense that I know it, is something unique to Britain it seems. Brett had never heard of the concept, nor had several other Americans I’ve spoken to about it. Even when I describe what goes on they all seemed dubious. But the fact of the matter is that pantomime is just plain good fun. I eventually came up with the recommendation to Brett to go into it ‘as a child.’ That was the best way I could think of preparing him. Panto isn’t high-art – it’s a mongrel mating of entertainment forms – but it is great fun, with lots of audience participation, slapstick, over-the-top characters and costumes and a humour which is always current, sometimes ad-lib and works on both the adult’s and child’s levels.

We went to see Aladdin at the Old Vic, mainly because I wanted to see Ian McKellen’s debut performance as the Widow Twanky. The fact that Maureen Lipman and Roger Allam were on stage too, made this one a cut above the rest. Joe McFadden as Aladdin also added a lot of energy and a certain amount of eye-candy.

Friday was a regular day. I was still working on print servers and realised I need to go to Leeds next week to install one of them. So I got that lined up for Wednesday. Next week is filling up fast. Monday is the usual Chorus rehearsal, Tuesday I have the (somewhat delayed) IT Team Christmas Dinner, Wednesday is now a long day to Leeds and back, Thursday we’re off to see a Tom Lehrer show by Kit and the Widow.

Today we’re going shopping – and it’s already nearly time for lunch – so I ought to stop writing and get on with it!