The Oxford Playhouse which was found in 1920 is considered to be one of the leading theatres in the UK. It has been associated with the launch of many stellar careers and productions; its repertory years saw companies which included such names as John Gielgud, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Ronnie Barker and Dirk Bogarde. Its association with the University of Oxford brought Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to its stage (in a memorable 1960s production of Dr. Faustus). Other notable student performers include Rowan Atkinson and Dudley Moore, as well as future talents who were destined to grace a different kind of stage, like politicians Shirley Williams and Nigel Lawson, director John Schlesinger and writers Alan Bennett and Christopher Hampton.

Over the years The Oxford Playhouse has emerged as a vibrant presenting theatre, a key date on the national touring circuit, with strong support from its wide audience. It regularly hosts a rich programme of drama, dance, music, music theatre and children's theatre, and is taking on an increasingly active role in producing, launching and commissioning new work.*

One of the annual, in-house events of the theatre is to produce a pantomime around the time of Christmas and New Year. A director and a creative team are selected and auditions are held. Auditions are also open to local children, depending on the cast required. Traditionally pantomimes have been performed at Christmas and audience members include families with children. British pantomimes are a popular form of theatre and have their trademark characteristics, which range from buffoonery to mild sexual innuendos.

Since the stories are not new in any sense of the word and clearly are more childlike (the scripts are usually borrowed from fairy tales) than anything else, the sensory aspects of the production such as the background scenery, the costumes, the popular music numbers, the dances, the props and special effects become the defining factors which determine one production's exclusivity from another similar one. Were I to go by my first experience of watching Dick Whittington at The Oxford Playhouse in the first week of the New Year, I'd say that it in its overall presentation, the British panto appears as a toned down version of the more flashier and touristy West End Musical. It wouldn't be inappropriate to define the pantomime in its present form as a spectacle, albeit on a small scale.

Comparisons between the two can be taken further by directly equating their success to the popularity that they enjoy. And in this regard Dick Whittington, directed by Peter Duncan quite naturally had its audience eating out of its hand in spite of some actors not being as good as the others. Besides the visual and the aural stimuli, pantomime productions make ample and frequent use of 'in-jokes', contemporary references and slapstick humour. While this kind of stage is hardly a place for nuanced performances, actors need to be agile, attentive and spirited since audience participation is yet another crucial element to be taken into account.

Joe Allen who played Dick Whittington's cat and Simon Green who played Sarah, the Cook were the best of the lot. While the former displayed enough attitude and cool for the children to earnestly support him in nearly all his appearances, the latter managed to cut the perfect pantomime dame, a traditional character in British pantomime where an important female character is played by a man in drag. Together they kept the house, singing and tapping their feet till the very end.

The atmosphere was one of bonhomie, where the young and the old were equally enthusiastic in their singing. And although the chorus of Lily Allen's song 'The Sun is in the Sky/Oh why Oh why/Would I want to be Anywhere Else…' would not have been more at odds, given the cold, windy weather outside, it quite enlivened the lot of us inside. In this context it was difficult not to succumb to its make-believe or to be critical of some of its clichés and stereotypes. The two actors made sure that the fairy-tale cast its magic net, even as Donna Hazelton as Fairy Port Meadow in her headmistress voice failed to do so.

Recent past pantomime productions at The Oxford Playhouse have included Cinderella (2005), Peter Pan (2004) and Jack and the Beanstalk (2003). The 2007 programme will feature Aladdin. The pantomime's commercial viability, no doubt owes a lot to the festive season; it after all does seem like one of the things that British families are accustomed to be doing at Christmas, apart from making a beeline to the big Christmas Sales. No, I am not joking. After all I heard Dame Sarah referring to them!



*The introduction to The Oxford Playhouse, which appears in the first two paragraphs, has been edited from the theatre's official website. Some inputs are from Steve Gibbs, the Press and Marketing Officer at the theatre and from Wikipedia, the free on-line dictionary. The writer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre and Performance Studies.