PANTO TIME
Yes the pantomime season is here again and in keeping with tradition I saw Snow White last night. Its storyline adhered to the traditional fairytale and, as I have no wish to spoil the ending for you, I’ll simply say that the prince and princess married and then left the stage to live happily ever after.
Synonymous with all good pantos, there were the usual “Oh no he didn’t, oh yes he did” exchanges, with one side of the theatre pitting its will against the other. Indeed there was a time when I used to think that the only thing a pantomime and my practising life had in common was that kind of argument.
Of course, when the children were relatively small I had a problem trying to give them any kind of rational reason why the happy ending nearly always involved a female prince and princess (not to mention a male dame). Indeed I remember Little Girl returning home totally disgusted after seeing Cinderella with her nursery school class. “Do you know, Mum,” she said, “the ugly sisters weren’t just ugly, they were men!”
In these days of Civil Partnerships such difficulties are behind me. The grand finale is now something our Register Offices host regularly and when Little Girl and her cousins have their annual fit of giggles at the final curtain, I am able to deliver a lecture about political correctness.
Synonymous with all good pantos, there were the usual “Oh no he didn’t, oh yes he did” exchanges, with one side of the theatre pitting its will against the other. Indeed there was a time when I used to think that the only thing a pantomime and my practising life had in common was that kind of argument.
Of course, when the children were relatively small I had a problem trying to give them any kind of rational reason why the happy ending nearly always involved a female prince and princess (not to mention a male dame). Indeed I remember Little Girl returning home totally disgusted after seeing Cinderella with her nursery school class. “Do you know, Mum,” she said, “the ugly sisters weren’t just ugly, they were men!”
In these days of Civil Partnerships such difficulties are behind me. The grand finale is now something our Register Offices host regularly and when Little Girl and her cousins have their annual fit of giggles at the final curtain, I am able to deliver a lecture about political correctness.
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