Panto Season

There are things which make us groan: puns, queues, overly priced christmas goods. But this does not stop people going to Panto. This is a drama exclusively designed to make people groan. Does this release endorphins? Is it even entertainment? Regardless we go to the things anyway, thinking that bringing kids to it somehow makes it endearing. I like shouting at people myself, but a whole crowd shouting ‘Behind you’? I mean its better than the colosseum, and no Christians die to mauling by lions, but its hardly high brow entertainment. Of course this does not mean it’s a bad thing. Most people don’t want to go and cheer at operas and acquire exclusive behind-the-scenes visits to Harrods. Still I wonder how the whole idea if Pantomime started. Was it a punishment for unsuccessful, badly trained actors? If so, perhaps our charity of going to bellow expletives at them is a good thing. Its surely better than roaring racist slurs at a football match. I think it’s a good diversion at a time of year when we should be spending a lot of money on useless goods and trying to worship Jesus, even though his birthday was nowhere near the 25th of December. I think that if someone hasn’t seen at least one panto in a lifetime, then they’ve probably missed out, but every year? Even watching Jordan singing crass songs about old dames and their oversized buffon-haircuts shouldn’t be repeated. I have been to plays where half the crowd disappears at halftime, but this rarely happens at panto. Maybe we have more patience for bad actors in this particular brand of drama. Maybe its in our blood. I don’t think most countries would endorse it. But us English? Maybe its right up our street.