"HE'S BEHIND YOU!!!!"

I went to the pantomime last Thursday (it's Christmas in England, after all)... and not just any panto; the one at the Old Vic, Aladdin, starring Sir Ian McKellen as the Widow Twankey. I'd missed out last year because I'd never got around to getting a ticket, and had been mad with myself ever since, so when I heard the great Sir Ian was reprising his role, I booked a ticket as soon as I could.

What can be said about such an experience? If you've been to a panto you know what it's like; if you never have, nothing can really describe it fully... and this one had it all; music and dancing and groanable jokes and audience participation and great sets and a wonderful villain and Sir Ian McKellen :D I haven't laughed as much in a long time; it was absolutely hilarious... such a totally English experience; very clever jokes mixed in with totally (and deliberately) awful ones, double entendres galore, lots of slapstick, loads of local references (really made me feel like a Londoner; I understood most of them!! ;)), a villain to boo and hiss at every opportunity, and of course the classic panto tradition of the Principal Boy played by a woman (Frances Barber as Dim Sum) and the Pantomime Dame played by a man (Sir Ian, as mentioned, who seemed to revel in his many costume changes and his many ridiculous lines... and dancing... the man has a fine set of legs...) ...see, even now I'm not coming close to describing it. You'll just have to imagine it...

I think I just HAVE to finish with the words of a London critic, who showed true panto spirit when he ended his review thus:

'Well, we'll be able to tell our grandchildren that we saw McKellen's Twankey, and it was huge.'

*grins and groans allowed* ;)

[These photos aren't mine, of course; no cameras allowed; but I was able to find some on the web. And you can click here for a tantalising little glimpse of the action in a videoclip from the Old Vic website.]