by Basil Benson » Sun Feb 04, 2018 2:46 am
Basil shifted awkwardly.
"We probably should. In case she becomes a problem later."
As he said it, the house lights came down indicating it was show time, and he said nothing more on the issue.
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The show proved to be everything Colette would not have expected from a play. It was a take on Cinderella, but the show required audience participation on the level of a children's television program. They were taught to boo and hiss at the villain, cheer the heroes, and several instances of call and response for humour value. However, there didn't seem to be any children in the audience at all so far as Colette could see.
What Colette would not know from being an outsider to British culture was that panto was meant as a family event that some progressives saw as childish, rude, and serving as a way to engender negative stereotypes about all sorts of people. This particular production took steps to mitigate these ideas and somewhat turn it around on itself.
To start, the Principal Boy was played not by an effeminate young lady trying to pretend to be an even younger man, but a drag king who appeared to be of Indian descent. Somewhat mirroring that, the wicked step mother (which was normally played by a very masculine man doing a caricature-esqe impression of a boorish shrieking woman otherwise known as a Panto Dame) was a drag queen. The Ugly Step Sisters (other parts commonly given to Panto Dames) were played by women in heavy makeup designed to give them unpleasant features like pock marks, facial scars, moles, gap-teeth and unibrows. This was coupled with them having childishly bad manners as well. Minor characters such as the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella's mice and animal friends were played by highly attractive dancers of various shapes, sizes, ethnic backgrounds and identities.
The basic story was more or less the way she remembered it, with the Principal Boy serving his usual role as narrator and playing the Handsome Prince. This version of the story was filled with quite a few bawdy jokes that would have made it inappropriate for young children, but overall it definitely would remind Colette of Shrek in it's execution. Presuming Shrek was somewhere between a PG-13 and R rating and didn't star an original character. In the end, Cinderella and the Handsome Prince kissed and presumably went on to live happily ever after.
No water was sprayed, but at the end of the show a confetti canon did go off that showered everyone (Colette included) in metallic confetti that was in all kinda of fun shapes.