I'm quietly pleased to see the extensive positive coverage of this year's pantomimes. Stars from the US- Patrick Duffy and Henry Winkler- are welcomed and Mark (Shopping And Fucking) Ravenhill is writing a family panto.
In my early days at The Mayflower, the great panto producer Paul Elliott managed to sign up Dudley Moore to star in our panto. The day it was announced, the nationals reacted with a unanimous conclusion that Dudley's career had reached rock bottom. Even The Guardian, with its regional origins, rdiculed him for being reduced to appearing in the 'seaside town' of Southampton. (Whereas in fact, Southampton is a prospering city with one of the most successful pantos in the country- and no beach.)
How times have changed. Now that top theatrical names like Ian McKellen, Simon Callow and Nigel Havers have chosen to appear in panto, suddenly the media are finding new respect for this great British tradition. It's taken a long time but the hard work Paul Elliott put into his vision of a kind of pantomime that took itself seriously as theatre has finally paid off.
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