Dunedin Xmas Pantomime 2007
Dec 20-22 | Reviewed by Renee Liang

THE PANTOMIME is one of those joyfully wacky British traditions (like cricket) which is sure to puzzle any hypothetical aliens watching us at Christmastime. But since I was in Dunedin and had never seen a pantomime, and my friend said she was in one, I borrowed some children and went.

Dunedin, being a solid university town with more than its fair share of thespians and writers, has no shortage of theatre and Sinbad was not the only panto to hit town this season. But as I paid for tickets (a princely $5 each) and sat down on the floor of the rather stately Town Hall to contemplate the homemade props, I was aware this was a special production.

It turns out that the Dunedin Xmas Pantomime is a community tradition started nearly ten years ago by the then Town Hall manager, Tom Thwaites. He wanted something to open the Town Hall up to the community at Christmas. A Trust now produces the panto every year, putting kids in with ‘veteran’ actors in what has become a veritable cottage industry of training up the next generation. Ticket prices are kept as low as possible. A number of young people have gained their badges in successive Christmas pantos, moving from bit parts to key roles to writing or directing, and have gone on to win prestigious places at Toi Whakaari or gain regular acting spots in more ‘serious’ theatre productions in Dunedin. So for all its air of backyard silliness, the Dunedin Christmas Panto seems to be a powerful force for Good.

And the Fight between Good and Evil was what I was here to see. I huddled on the floor with my young friends George, Louis, Lily and Zoe, who being far more experienced in pantomime watching than I, remained debonair through the whole performance and sat there calmly while I shouted “over there!”. There was a beautiful blond Princess Kamila (Anna Langford). There was a handsome beefcake hero, a Pacific Sinbad (Siale Tunoka, a veteran). There was a silly Sultan who laid a silver egg and then doubled as a cross-dressing female pirate (Jared Culling).There were some incompetent bad-guy sidekicks (Angela Hannah and Wyeth Chalmers).There were a whole bunch of pirates, enough for all the kids in the audience to have a rollicking good time.

There were some strikingly young kids in the cast too – some were as young as five, manfully brandishing cardboard sabres. A bevy of slim teens – of the sort you normally see pouting and flaunting flat bellies at the mall – danced their way, remarkably seriously, through roles variously as ladies-in-waiting, mermaids and sea monsters. Their inventive costumes looked like they had taken some poor mums a lot of work and some of the numbers, especially the sea monster sequence, was imaginatively choreographed. And despite the variable acting from the young cast, at least one very young member of the audience was convinced enough of the evilness of the rap-busting, hip hop dancing villain Adham (Andrew Munro) to bawl whenever he appeared in a cloud of dry ice.

The script was topical, Kiwified and with the traditional mix of sly innuendo and outright corniness. I loved the “will she kiss me or won’t she” slapstick sequence featuring liberal (mimed) amounts of breath freshener, and the video sequence filmed at the local swimming pool. I found out later the script had been written by Greg Macleod, who started as an actor (and still acts professionally) but has written the scripts for the last three performances, collaborating with local musician Danny Still. In fact, couldn’t have found a more “made in Dunedin” show if I’d been looking (I had been.)

All in all, a joyful afternoon out. And the verdict? Afterwards I asked six-year old George for his critical opinion. “I liked the pirates,” he said, after a second’s deep thought. “Can we go and get some more chocolate now?”

Renee Liang is The Lumičre Reader’s Southern Correspondent for the summer of 2007/2008. Image credit: seenindunedin.co.nz