Showing @ King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sun 22 Jan 2012
Our competition has now ended. Congratulations to our winners Kerry Black and Margaret Brown who have bagged themselves a pair of tix each to Cinderella at The King’s!
As The King’s gets this year’s panto underway, (Dame) Allan Stewart takes some time out to have a chat to us about this year’s festivities. Stewart tells of the early days and how “the first panto I did was in 1989 and my son was born, so I walked on stage with my three-week old son, and it just holds incredible memories for me. And my wife was in the panto with me a year later, so everywhere I turn seems to have stories that I can remember”.
This year sees Stewart get back to the roots of panto with Cinderella, the performance ancestry which took shape at the turn of the 19th century. He explains that “Cinderella has always been my favourite, I think it’s the people’s favourite one as well and always seems to do much better than other pantos. It’s such a great rags to riches story, although ours is slightly different; Cinderella isn’t so poor and the ugly twins have won the house that Cinderella works in during a poker game”.
we’ve got a massive illusion at the end of the first half
Keeping the fundamentals of the original story, Stewart explains that “panto is the first thing children see in the theatre so it’s their first chance to get hooked”, and this hook is what stirs our love of the art form. He tells of “a couple in the box (Stewart’s notorious antics see him perform a scene in the audience) who had been coming up from the South of England for eight years on the same day every year. So it’s amazing that we get this clientele that keep coming back over and over again”.
The King’s is renowned for big productions and impressive special effects; will they carry on the tradition this year? Stewart confirms that “we’ve got a massive illusion at the end of the first half” while having “snow falling over the whole audience so we’re very lucky with the lavish side of the King’s, we’ve always kept a high standard”. Always a treat for audiences young and old, it’s a chance to see one of the best and most-loved running pantomimes in the UK while having a laugh at Stewart and his pals, mucking around with gags and gaffs.