‘It’s behind you!’ How Britain goes wild for pantomimes during the holidays

LONDON — Foreboding music begins. A scary green witch announces her arrival with a cackle. It’s the opening of Wicked Witches, a British holiday-time play known as a “pantomime,” at a North London theater.

But soon after she walks on stage, it’s clear the witch isn’t happy with the audience.

She says the audience is being too quiet, and should boo her as loudly as they can, because she is the “villain” of the pantomime. She leaves the stage and comes back on — and this time, the audience does what it’s told, heckling with loud boos.

Throughout the two-hour play, the audience is expected to join in, shouting out classic lines that most people who attend already know, even if they haven’t seen this play. Pantomimes are famous for crowds calling out catch phrases e like “it’s behind you!” — to alert the actors to something, or someone, they can’t see on stage.

All across Britain during the festive period, families attend pantomimes — often shortened to “pantos” — which help get them into the Christmas spirit. Pantomimes are usually based on a well-known story, often a fairy tale, which is then given a bawdy twist. Traditionally, they feature female characters, or “dames,” played by a man in drag, and include lots of music, particularly pop parodies.

The show at the Pleasance Theatre is inspired by The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Its storyline imagines a blizzard that brings Dorothy (whose name has changed to Dor) back to Oz, 20 years after that first visit. But in many ways, the plot comes second to the silly jokes, innuendos, and songs.

Pantomimes are also known for featuring celebrities and public figures. This one features politician Jeremy Corbyn, who used to lead Britain’s Labour Party He appears on video as the Wizard of Oz-lington, a pun on Islington, the area of London he represents, now as an independent, in Parliament. Even more exciting is actor Ian McKellen — famous for playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films — who is seen in a video clip as Toto the dog.

The Wicked Witches pantomime in North London was actually written by an American, Shane “ShayShay” Konno, who comes from California’s Bay Area but has lived in the United Kingdom for 12 years. “I didn’t grow up in the U.K., and when I moved here, starting to understand pantomime felt like a huge cultural hurdle,” Konno says.

Pantomime has its roots in Italian commedia dell’arte, a form of theater that dates back to the 16th century. In Britain, it has gradually developed over the years. “The actual history of pantomime is it started in East London, and it used to be this huge thing where the whole community would come together,” Konno explains.

Konno is nonbinary, and their pantomime is consciously inclusive of LGBTQ people, featuring a nonbinary character in the lead role of Dor, and a message that people should accept people who are different from them. “I wanted to make something that made an explicitly LGBT version of The Wizard of Oz and Wicked, because that’s such a beloved franchise for the queer community,” Konno says.

There are two versions: one for families with children, and one just for adults. But Konno says they aren’t as different as you might think. Many of the ruder jokes remain in the family-friendly show, but they are carefully disguised. “When a quite rude joke is said, but one that goes over the kids’ heads, it does tickle the adults in the room more than it would in an adult show because they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe that they said that in front of the children,'” Konno says.

Most theaters around Britain have an annual pantomime in the festive period — and it’s often their most popular production of the year. Johnny McKnight, from Paisley, a town near Glasgow, Scotland, has been performing and writing pantomimes in Scotland for 20 years, and says it’s a vital part of many British people’s Christmas celebrations.

“I’ve always said to everybody, when you do a pantomime, and you’re doing 12 shows a week, you’re giving people the gift of their Christmas ritual, their Christmas night out,” McKnight says. McKnight often plays the role of the dame, dressing up in drag.

McKnight has seen different generations of the same families grow up watching his shows, and explains that pantomime is often the first time that children in Britain ever visit the theater. “A lot of the time it’s a child’s first entry point,” McKnight says. “It was certainly mine — my first entry point into live theater.”

At the Wicked Witches show in North London, there are lots of children at the theater for the first time. Imogen Coackley is 8 years old, and attending with her father Alex and 5-year-old sister Emily. Imogen explains that she likes the pantomime because “they say very funny jokes and talk to the audience.”

McKnight says that seeing children enjoy his shows is one of the best parts of the job. “There’s something … magical in that, that you’re creating something accessible that talks to its audience rather than at them, that asks them to participate,” he says.