I'm an avid Panto fan. I see as many pantos as I can each season to try and develop my craft and get new ideas and oneliners. I read joke books and text books on the genre to try and give myself a body of ammo that can be used to get the upper hand of fellow cast members, the audience and most importantly, the songsheet.
This prep work, has all been leading to my first stint as lead comic, as they along with the dame are the ones with the most opportunity to ad-lib and pass comment. Obviously a quick wit is your key tool, but I think that having a body of gags tucked away in the old grey matter to fall back on is a must.
I chose "You Are My Sunshine" as my song this year, as I wanted something a bit more traditional and recognisable to the more senior family members. If you can get Dad and Grandad on side and singing along, the children will join in, even if it's just random noises!! This song also allows room for some actions for the audience to join in with, which I added for the relaxed performance but have kept in as it went down so well.
I'd always look forward to doing the songsheet, but as doing it real time approached, I became more nervous. The first three or four times, I was keen to just get it done, get the kids off the stage again and be back in the comfort zone. As confidence grew however, the challenge and fun of the songsheet became a great appeal, and despite being slightly out of breath at the beginning of it, I now thrive on it!! I hope each show for some 'little characters' to come up and do the work for me... Find a quirky child, or one with a very short attention span and the comedy is there, on a huge platter, waiting for your response. And boy.... Have I had some characters!!
My first little Angel was called Amelia who from the moment she came on stage was eager to be the one in the spotlight. She kept giggling, walking over to me in front of the other kids and was generally full of beans. When I finally got to her and started questioning her she started to bounce on the spot. Seizing the opportunity I decided to conduct the interview in the same manor, claiming it was making me feel seasick. She continued, and so the rest of the songsheet was done by a bouncy Buttons - the extra payoff came when she was asked what she wanted for Christmas. The response. A trampoline!
I had another little girl who was covered in chicken pox, who I rushed through I'm sorry to say, but having never had it the hypochondriac in me came rushing to the surface. Another little fellow, when questioned about his favourite part of the show replied "the end!" Causing much amusement for the audience and myself. I did clarify with him that he meant the Riverdance skit! but still! choice of words and timing were priceless. As I said... They do the work for you.
I've had a small handful of kids who have been very stubborn, and showed no desire to either be interviewed or do any singing, begging the question why they came up in the first place. One trio of siblings, stood with their arms crossed - refusing to sing - so I sat down next to them and did the same. The family were in that night and they thought it was well handled. Hope so. At least the slightly more boisterous children are giving sometching; in fact one girl gave a little too much. "How old are you Jessica?" No response.... Instead a shake of the head and a quick ninja like flick of the arm that sent the mic rocketing back towards me, and more precisely my lip. I fell over pretending it had hit me harder than it did which got a nice reaction, and played on the fact of being scared of her... "Alright don't hurt me!" There was in fact a little blood... Delightful!
My final mention goes to a lovely little girl, who turned out to be 2!! Unfortunately she wasn't quite at a competent interview level and the only thing I could get out of her was gobbledygook! Name? "Shlabuldeebiewoobleflug". Age? "Chew" translated as two. Home? "Gooselibermup". I was looking to her older sister for translations as the only legible answer I got was to the question "what do you want for Christmas?" Now it could just have been nonsense again but her answer was a "farting puppy!" Deal with that lead comic!
[Just to warn you - this paragraph continues a lot of poo!]
But it's not just our little humans that are getting up to no good. At the start of the run it was very rare for us to get through the transformation scene without one or both of our ponies, Buttons and Holly, leaving deposits on the stage. They did, as promised by Wendy their handler, settle down and we had a massive run of 14 shows without a pooper-scooper insight.
That was however before "the dangler" on an evening performance when I had some friends in. The ponies came on as usual, me and Cinders "surprised" as ever to see them toddle on. They took position, as did we and Bonnie continued with her dialogue. Then came the reliant sign that the ponies had "run-a-muck".... The audience and babes always start laughing!! We can't see what they're doing usually because of the dry ice covering the floor, but that night all was visible. The titters started when the pony lifted it's tail. Then came the first sign of his 'leavings' but instead of dropping to the stage as president has shown, it hung there. I caught sight of a lady on the front row in hysterics pointing at said poop, and as the pony put all of his heart into it and forced the troublesome turd out, her finger followed it to the floor, followed by a cheer from her and the rest of the audience as it hit the ground. There we are working of butts off, when in actual fact all we really needed to do was empty them out!
On that fragrant note, toodles!
JB - BB
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