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Oh, yes it is!
2024 was the year in which I, a panto sceptic, discovered the true joy and purpose of these seasonal productions
by Kate Maltby
© ATANAS PASKALEV
’Tis the season for panto. But, as a theatre critic and an inveterate literary snob, I have always hated the genre. So I was surprised to find my 2024 bookended by two evenings that showed me why panto brings so much joy. At one end of the year: London’s Jewish community centre, JW3. At the other: Liverpool’s Royal Court theatre. Both have their own takes on the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
In 2023, the JW3 launched its first panto for the Jewish community, Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Pig. In 2024, the Liverpool Royal Court made a hit with The Scouse Red Riding Hood. Like most Great British Pantos, both are better understood as panto rather than pantomime—there’s very little of the Italian commedia dell’arte tradition in either of these. (Although Argentinian acrobat Tiago Fonseca, starring as Red Riding Hood’s ninjaskilled granny, gave JW3 a taste of high-skill clowning; sadly, he is not in this winter’s follow-up, Goldie Frocks and the Bear Mitzvah, on from 8th December.)