Panto! Are people still going?

One of the things we did a lot at Christmas when I was a child, but less so when we hit our teenage years, was to go a Christmas panto. I am sure there were ‘famous’ people in the one’s I saw as a kid, but I don’t remember that aspect of it. I do remember being excited about another string to my Christmas bow. We rarely went to the theatre as children, save the terrible school plays we were forced to watch each other in, so it felt like an extra special treat.

It was all the things I loved about Christmas. A bit of an occasion, we all dressed up in nice clothes, even for matinee shows (my husband frequently laughs/is exasperated by my formality – he really should be angry at my father who rarely missed an opportunity to have us in nice/formal clothes) and that provided days of excitement beforehand thinking about the perfect Christmas outfit. It was a family affair, so most of the time just the five of us, but occasionally other family members as well. As a kid there were few things I liked better than when we all hung out and panto provided another opportunity to do that. Finally, it was usually preceded or followed by eating out – another stone cold favourite of mine.

All in all, what’s not to love right? It’s funny, like a lot of things Christmas related, it wasn’t so much about the ‘thing’ itself, but rather all the extra’s that came along with it. I can barely remember any plotlines/actors etc from the panto’s we went to as children but I do remember the excitement of going to a panto. It was a sure sign that Christmas was here, and it was acceptable to start celebrating it. For a Christmas nut like me that was Christmas carols to my ears.

As I mentioned, it tapered off as we got older. As you can tell from this blog, it wasn’t that I fell out of love with Christmas, so I wonder why I didn’t fight so hard to keep it alive. When my little sister came along (who is a lot younger than me) I did get to experience it again a few times with her, which was awesome. But since I have been an adult, e.g. had my own money and time to go to one, I haven’t. I wonder if there are any fellow Christmas lovers out there who have similarly fallen out of step with Christmas panto’s?

I don’t have time this year, I am already booked up until the end of the year, but I think I will definitely give it a go next year. Since we moved out of central London, it is always good to find interesting things to do locally and Christmas always provides opportunities for that!