[DanaC]

Was much, much fun.

Seeing mah homegrrrls always a delight. And as ever the panto was very funny. The more of them I see, the more I appreciate them. There's something delightfully anarchic about a well done pantomime. Whilst at the same time absolutely following the expected conventions.

There was a family seated to my right, with two youngsters. Their responses were fascinating. Especially when everybody donned their 3D glasses and things were flying out from the stage at them.

There's a really interesting balance of humour. There's stuff in there for adults, in fact, a lot of it is downright filthy, but it's double entendre, nudge nudge wink wink filthy. Flies over the kids heads. So, the adults are in stiches at at some lewd throw away line whilst the kids are laughing their little arses off at a fart gag.

There is no fourth wall in pantomime. It is collaborative throughout. The performers directly address and enlist the audience as part of the story. This allows for some lovely little touches. I can't remember (sorry girls) whether it was Limey or Sundae who pointed out the underlying function of the magic wands, but the kids really went for that. In terms of the player-audience collaboration, the kids were waving their flashing light whizzy wands at various points, instructed by one of the characters, in order to help 'protect' the adventurers or to help them get past monsters. So not only were they involved, they were also empowered with a form of protection during the potentially terrifying 3d encounters.

Clever, clever ;p

I'll let Sundae wax lyrical about John Barrowman. Suffice to say he was very entertaining. I cannot even imagine what that kind of energy level must feel like.