It's a British Tradition- Christmas Style

Christmas in Britian wouldn't be Christmas without the entertainment phenomenon of the Pantomime. This is the slapstick, cartoon of a theatre experience where the leading lady is ALWAYS played by a "Bloke in a Dress" and there's lots of interaction with the audience. For the US-based readers, I can only tell you that the Rocky Horror Picture Show is as close as we get in the US. It's the Rocky Horror Picture Show on steroids.

Our Christmas tradition always entails a trip to Sheffield to take presents to Paulster's sister and family and visit his mother. This year, Auntie M (let's call her) arranged for all of us to go to the Pantomime. It was Aladdin. The story that was adapted by Disney about an evil man who uses Aladdin to find a lamp and access the powers of the Genie to make him an evil sorcerer.
Kind of a heavy story...
Not so much when in the setting of a pantomime.

Here's a picture of the press photos for it...to give you an idea.

And the writeup of who's in it (it won't mean anything to the US readers):
The iconic Phil Daniels (Eastenders, Quadrophenia and Blur's 'Parklife') plays the role of evil Abanazzar; Kevin Sacre (Jake Dean in Hollyoaks) plays Aladdin; Sheffield's very own comedy legend Bobby Knutt (back by popular demand) plays The Chinese Policeman and Damian Williams (the funniest dame in the country) plays the role of Widow Twankey.

I simply cannot describe the hilarity of the pantomime adequately. It must be experienced. There was one point in the show where I was laughing so hard that I was literally crying. The most hilarious thing for me was the part of the show where the main characters were "looking" for mummies. Sitting on a bench, singing the Monty Python song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"--the mummies would come out of one side of the stage, wander behind the singers and back off again. The job of the crowd is to point and scream, "It's behind you!" Which Paulster's 4 year-old niece did with EXTREME style. Watching her was the funniest part of the entire show.

Another really funny part was the song of the 12 Days of Christmas--which had new lyrics. Including on the first day of Christmas, a bra that was made to hold three. The actors spent the entire time of that song trying to throw each other off.
Like I said, it really must be experienced...I'm so glad that I finally got a chance to see it.
I think it will become a part of my UK Christmas tradition...