Aladdin

Liam Rudden of the Brunton Theatre’s Aladdin - interview

The writer-director shares his insight into the panto-creating process

6 Dec 2011

What are the challenges of adapting such a well-known story? The biggest challenge is ensuring that the narrative is not lost in amongst all the routines, gags and songs. Finding the right routines and songs to advance the story is crucial. How does…

Aladdin

SECC Christmas show stars The Krankies and John Barrowman

15 Dec 2010

If you think this arena spectacular violates that unspoken rule of knowing crapness in pantomime by promising 3D graphics and a celebrity star for whom the phrase ‘it’s behind you’ unusually couldn’t be applied to his career, think again. The SECC’s…

Potted Panto brings CBBC's Dan and Jeff to Fringe

Aladdin, Mother Goose and Cinderella - in one show

14 Aug 2010

You’ve seen Aladdin, Mother Goose and Cinderella – now see all three, plus four more, squeezed into 70 minutes of dynamic mayhem. Performed by CBBC’s Dan and Jeff, the duo who brought us Potted Potter and Potted Pirates, this fast-paced romp will have…

Aladdin

17 Dec 2009

It’s almost as though there are two shows in the King’s latest panto, both representing enormously popular forms of light entertainment. Front and centre are regulars Gerard Kelly (celebrating, as the programme notes, 20 years of togetherness with that…

Aladdin

11 Dec 2008

3D SPECTACLE Where would the King’s panto be without Allan Stewart? All pantos rely heavily on their dame, but Stewart as Widow Twankey carries this show like a tireless packhorse. Which isn’t to say that Grant Stott’s baddie isn’t as deliciously…

Pantomimes

27 Nov 2008

Earlier this year, I took a trip to Scarborough to check out the headquarters of the Qdos Entertainment empire. This is the organisation responsible for 21 pantomimes in the UK alone, not to mention a handful of theatres, a couple of talent agencies…

Dame on: Pantomimes in Scotland 2008

13 Nov 2008

There’s been something of a shift in the pantomime world over the last few years. Traditional pantos – innuendo-laden fairy tales replete with dame and a couple of faces off the telly – are still going strong, but increasingly, theatres have begun to…

Aladdin

King’s Theatre, Glasgow

13 Dec 2006

The pitch Rather more the story of Wishee Washee, a redundant shepherd trying to break into his mother’s laundry business, than of his brother Aladdin who falls foul of the wicked Abanazar after failing to get a magical lamp out of a cave. Amid flying…

Pantos

Psychorella

27 Nov 2006

Well, we’ve only ourselves to blame. If we, as adults, persist in dragging our children along to pantos and Christmas shows, what grounds do we have to complain that they turn out to be twisted and violent? The stories themselves seem to display an…