written by on 21/12/2013
It is a while since I went to a pantomime. Family First Entertainments production of Cinderella was the first one i have seen in Bristol. My family and i found the content predominantly unsuitable for children. The first thing to strike us was the commercialism, adverts on the big screen and expensive flashing plastic products.
Panto has always had an element of the 'camp' and innuendo, but this was the major part of the whole show and the story of Cinderella was incidental to the silliness that amused neither adults nor children. Yes, there was the odd good joke and audience participation, but the behavior of the ugly sisters was of the worst playground kind, and the busy bee song which involved spitting water over people was simply poor taste and did not raise many if any laughs. Panto used to be magical for children and amusing for adults, with the prime enjoyment being that of seeing children wide-eyed and laughing. This was loud, vulgar and a poor example of how to behave. The singing was good and the dancing OK, but why all the references to sexual behaviour and unpleasantness. It was not enjoyed by three generations of our family. Mostly we just felt uncomfortable and hoped that most of what was displayed on stage would not influence the behaviour of our children. This production may well have put us off pantomime forever!!!