When I was seven years old my family and I took a trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios in Florida. I remember genuinely believing in all of the characters that roamed the theme parks, even though the unfortunate employees that were overheating in their furry and friendly costumes. So much so that when I met Spiderman, I wondered how he was able to be in Florida while at the same time filming the eponymous 2002 film in New York City. It is this childish imagination and genuine belief in characters like this that makes Christmas pantomimes so special for children and, in turn, all those who are involved in creating them. Karl Broderick, writer and co-producer of the Cheerios Panto, Aladdin, spoke to The University Times about the production of one of the most well-known and well-established pantomime productions currently operating in Ireland. Broderick explains that it is exactly this that he keeps in mind when writing pantomimes, saying: “I really do think about the six-year-old little girl in the audience. She’s come in her princess dress, and she really believes that’s Princess Jasmine, and she really believes that’s Aladdin.” It is this that motivates him to work as hard as he does, almost owing the fans an experience that is as real as possible: “You know, putting people up there messing around just hitting each other … that’s not how it goes. You have to keep that real, you have to keep that story very faithful.”
The history of the pantomime begins, as the Irish Independent traced, in 16th-century Italy. Rather than commanding the stage, however, street performers would dazzle their onlookers with effects, while alternating characters by wearing ornate masks from the Commedia dell’arte, a renowned Italian theatre troupe. From the 17th century, pantomimes made their way to English shores. It was not until the Victorian era, however, BBC Arts cites, that they emerged as the pantomimes we know today, telling the stories of fairy tales in popular contexts, all the while evolving as the Christmas time tradition that they have come to be inextricable from. Dublin’s first pantomime was put on in the Gaiety Theatre in the late 19th century, although we have our own heritage of pantomimes that told Irish folk tales in the 1950s and 1960s.
As with many pantomimes, with Aladdin there is an expectation by fans that precedes it because of Disney’s decades-long monopoly, which has a cult following that largely remains today, even with young fans. Broderick acknowledges this: “People say to me often: ‘Is Aladdin not already written?’, and I go ‘Yeah, but you have to hit a couple of plot points’, and we then get to put two hours worth of content on stage, where it doesn’t feel like your padding it out, you move the story along so everybody still feels it comes from that Disney idea of things, you don’t disappoint them.” He tells me that he could tell me the plot of Aladdin in 30 seconds, going on to do just that: “Basically, poor boy gets tricked into going into a cave, gets left there, finds the lamp, rubs the lamp, finds the genie, finds Princess Jasmine, the baddie gets the lamp back, Aladdin then has to try to get the lamp back.”
“The trick is never to leave them behind. And you never leave the parents behind where the parents say ‘well I’m going to the bar.”
The rest is all characters, like Sammy Sausages, who is played by Broderick’s husband, Alan Hughes; and Panto Dame, Buffy; as well as jokes and one liners to move the story along. Broderick tells me that when he first started in the pantomime business the director passed on some advice, saying that “when you write for the Prince and the Princess, try not to write them as popcorn-eating fiends”, by which he meant that too often do children zone out as a result of how the characters are written. “And I remember thinking the total opposite”, Broderick tells me. “No, I want the kids to love the princess so much and love the guy so much and be invested in it. And that was something that stuck with me, that their story has to be kept real.”
Broderick very much understands the importance of pantomimes to children, being conscious not to alienate them in favour of the adults in the audience. “I remember years ago going to [a pantomime] in another theatre, and it just veered off. There must have been 20 minutes of monologue at the start from this woman. And the adults were laughing but not the kids, and I was an adult, and I still was like ‘Oh, I don’t know what they’re talking about.’” To avoid this, Broderick explains, “the trick is never to leave them behind. And you never leave the parents behind where the parents say ‘well I’m going to the bar’”. I ask him how he manages to entertain both parents and children at the same time, to which he replies: “Well, The Simpsons have been doing it for 20 years, and they do it perfectly well. How I can do it, I honestly don’t know. There are some times we have school shows at 11 in the morning. And they are filled with literally just small children, and they don’t even have their parents with them. And you see the odd teacher, and the teachers are belly laughing. The kids are loving it. And then your normal run you have your family with your 2.4 children, and that’s your average audience, and then we have our audience of girl guides of nine, 10, 11 and 12 with their couple of leaders and they’re belly laughing and they’re shouting up at the stage, being so into it. And then some nights we have women’s clubs and active retired [women] … and no children. And they’re roaring laughing.” Adding: “If you go onto the Cheerios Panto Facebook Page, you can see hundreds of reviews, and it’s all from adults. More often than not the adults are saying: ‘I don’t even have a kid anymore and we still go.’ There’s something there, there must be a formula but I’m not even sure what it is.”
It becomes apparent to me that people often have preconceptions about pantomimes that perhaps make them feel that they are not for them, like that they are only for children, for example. Broderick explains how one company has been coming to them since they began: “It was always their Christmas event out. And, to begin with, all the parents used to be in the bar, and it was seen as the kids at the show. And slowly but surely, over one or two or three pantos, they were no longer in the bar. They were all in watching the show. So the premise was that I think people feeling it’s a kids show and something for the kids.” But as well as this, pantomimes are often under-recognised as the theatrical art form that they are. Broderick weighs in on this when he comments on how the “idea of costume design, lighting design and sound design, these are top notch people at the top of their game producing a two hour, funny extravaganza”. On the other hand, he adds: “I think if you had some sort of half-naked ballet, you’d get a grand from the Arts Council”. To date, the Arts Council in Ireland does not recognise pantomimes as an art form like their counterparts in theatre or dance.
What is special about pantomimes as a theatrical art form, and something that Broderick very much likes about them as well is, is there versatility, spontaneity and the special relationship the form creates between actor, audience and director. As he says: “When Aladdin is wondering, what will I do with this lamp? That’s something I like to do as well.” Broderick uses this element of suspense to great advantage, toying with audience expectations. “I like the audience to affect the plot”, he says, “so Aladdin finds the lamp and is going to throw it away, and he actually throws away the lamp. And if it doesn’t happen, we’re kind of in trouble, but I can guarantee that the kids are going to shout up to rub the lamp… and, I mean, they can be screaming and Aladdin will be like ‘what?’. Now without the audience that can’t move along”. A unique experience for audiences of theatre to enjoy, and especially for children. “[The children] are there to buy into it and they scream up, and they boo the baddie, and they hiss.” For many children, pantomimes are their first experience of theatre and, for Broderick, “it’s the first thing that kids can see, the first theatre kids can see, and if they like it you can have theatre fans for life. And if you don’t, then you can put them off. And so I think it’s really important. And it’s really important to engage the kids”. He tells me of well-respected actor, Brian Murray, who made his pantomime debut a couple of years ago: “He always had a dream to do panto. He came to the panto every year and he loved it. He is an actor because he saw panto as a child.”
Pantomime also offers important lessons for children from a young age. Broderick very much likes to play with dimensions of good and evil and light and darkness in his shows. “I really believe the baddie should be the baddie, and he’s the ying to everybody else’s yang. You get to set the tone … I like the baddies in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the evil Child Catcher and the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. I was hiding behind the sofa as a child, like, they weren’t afraid to be scary.” He goes on to say that “you really want those ying and yang moments, light and dark in the show, the kids really invest in it when the baddie gets his comeuppance, and it looks like the baddie is about to win”. However, the art of the pantomime and its heavily contrived sense of drama, is not just a veneer. Rather, Broderick has taken pains to include moral lessons in his shows that have relevance for a younger, and even an older, audience.
“Cinderella is the most bullied person in the whole world, and the ugly sisters are the most horrendous bullies, and it looks like they are winning out a lot of the time, and you’re nearly teaching an audience, this isn’t how it happens.”
“Ultimately it’s about bullying”, he says. “Cinderella is the most bullied person in the whole world, and the ugly sisters are the most horrendous bullies, and it looks like they are winning out a lot of the time, and you’re nearly teaching an audience, this isn’t how it happens.” He recalls that in any performance there is an element of teaching the young audience that good will win out, a lesson made all the more easy by the clear distinction between good and bad. “The Sammy Sausages character will say that a couple of times within the show, he will be like ‘Oh, that Abanazar, he’s stolen the lamp, he’s stolen the genie and he’s stolen Princess Jasmine, and he’s a bully and bullies can’t win, can they kids?’ And the kids will all shout up ‘No!’ That’s a great message.” While to those who do not think highly of pantomime, the show can look exaggerated, melodramatic and repetitive, Broderick asserts that the formula of a panto is committed to making a child believe in justice in a world that will look increasingly bleak as they age. As he says: “If you do bad, it might look like you’re winning for a bit, but there’s always a happy ending, and a bad ending for the bad guy.”
As a testament to Broderick’s involvement with the Cheerios Panto over the last 19 years, as well as the talent to the whole crew, this year’s pantomime of Aladdin has been extended to January 22nd, with their opening night at the time of the interview being over a week away. The Cheerios Panto can now boast record-breaking sales for this year’s show. For this, Broderick thanks the whole team, but he also feels that he has had to accumulate his fanbase over the course of last 19 years by never disappointing and always trying to outdo themselves over the year before. “You know the weirdest thing, I’ve always felt that, I always thought we had to be good. I’ve always felt that there were some other theatres, bigger theatres, and it was almost a case like people would nearly look in the paper and think what’s on, what’s on in those theatres, and with us, it’s nearly people follow us.” He goes on to say: “We have an awful lot of people coming in groups of 17, groups of 20, who started with a family of mam and dad and two children and then got their sister or her kids to go as a group with them and grandkids or other kids. That’s not unheard of for huge families to come together as a big outing.” It is clear that The Cheerios Panto has become, not only an important part of many people’s childhoods, but a staple of many people’s Christmases.
This year’s Cheerios Panto, Aladdin, will run from December 13th to January 22nd in the Tivoli Theatre. Tickets are available by calling 01 454 4472 or online at www.panto.ie.
