It’s a place where anything can happen, where anyone can be anything they want to be and where the suspension of disbelief is positively encouraged. That’s the wonder of pantoland, where the campest Prince can fall in love with the most beautiful Princess, where age is meaningless, often with hysterical results, and where magical beings ensure good always triumphs over evil, no matter how outrageous the plot may become along the way.
It’s something that’s been known since Shakespeare’s time, when men and boys played women and girls, a tradition continued to this day by the panto dame. Then there’s the aging ingenue, heightened and played for laughs, a character anyone who ever saw Suzy Cooper in a Berwick Kaler panto will recognise instantly.
Indeed, in 1972, hit Granda TV sitcom Nearest and Dearest scored a ratings winner when they filmed a Christmas special in which Hylda Baker, then 67 years old, and Jimmy Jewel, a more youthful 63-year-old, found their squabbling, ‘middle-aged’ siblings, forced to play Cinderella and Buttons respectively, to save their local panto – other series regulars were roped into the festive antics too, including Edward Malin, 78, as the most an unlikely Fairy Godmother ever. It was gloriously funny, the geriatric Cinderella and pensionable Buttons bringing a whole new level of farce to proceedings
Which is why this year’s London Palladium Pantomime will prove an absolute belter; so much talent and, more importantly, so much experience brought together in one production. The title being teased on social media in advance of its announcement as ‘the greatest love story ever told’ had panto fans guessing. Might it be a seasonal take on Romeo and Juliet, surely not. Cinderella and Prince Charming then. Too obvious. Cinderella and Buttons? Or Buttons and Dandini? No. Beauty and The Beast, perhaps? That was met with a hard no from publicists.
Then there was the big rumour on panto forums; Hugh Jackman was said to be in talks to headline this year’s blockbuster panto at The Palladium as… Robin Hood. Half right, but there’s no ‘Greatest Showman’ pulling on the green tights at London’s ‘Home of Variety’ this year, that honour falls to arguably the ‘Campest Showman’ on the West End, Julian Clary. Ever ready to toy with his bow and arrow, the funnyman will star alongside everyone’s favourite travel host and singer, Jane McDonald, as Maid Marion – it’s brazenly inspired left-field casting to create what is potentially the most outrageous, eye-wateringly funny double-act we’ll see this year.
Back for a ninth spectacular season, London Palladium Pantomime’s spellbinding journey into the enchanting depths of Sherwood Forest also finds Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers, Charlie Stemp and Rob Madge returning to the Argyll Street theatre while West End stars Marisha Wallace and Tosh Wanogho-Maud both make their Palladium panto debut.
Clary, Havers and Zerdin have all starred in Palladium pantos since Cinderella in 2016. Stemp makes a welcome return having previously performed in Dick Whittington in 2017, Snow White in 2018 and Palladium Panto in Pantoland in 2020, and Madge, who made his Palladium debut in 2022’s Jack and the Beanstalk, also appeared in last year’s Peter Pan.
In the forthcoming Robin Hood, Zerdin will play Will Scarlet with Havers as Friar Tuck, Charlie Stemp as Alan-A-Dale and Tosh Wanogho-Maud as Little John. Wallace will go into full on baddie mode as The Sheriff of Nottingham with Madge playing The Spirit of Sherwood. Between them, Clary, McDonald and Havers alone bring a staggering 197 years of stagecraft and experience to the production; they certainly all know who to win an audience and keep them entertained.
Michael Harrison, producer and director of all nine London Palladium pantomimes says, “One of the highlights of my year is bringing together our magnificent London Palladium panto cast and preparing to stage our much-loved Christmas spectacular at London’s home of variety. I’m absolutely thrilled that Robin and Marion, two of the greatest lovers in history, will be played by the wonderful Jane McDonald and Palladium royalty Julian Clary. This is a love story like no other bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase, ‘Robin Hood’s Camp’.”
McDonald adds, “I am thrilled to be making my debut in the iconic London Palladium panto, one of the highlights of the theatrical year. Julian and I are already falling in love off-stage, and we can’t wait to bring this to Maid Marion and Robin Hood come Christmas.”
So, expect all the usual stunning sets and costumes, rip-roaring comedy and incredible special effects in what is guaranteed to be an evening of mischief, mayhem, and merry-making down Sherwood way… there’s money’s on there being a few surprises as well.
Produced and directed by Michael Harrison for Crossroads Pantomimes, the world’s biggest pantomime producer Robin Hood runs from 7 December 2024 – 12 January 2025 at the world-famous London Palladium. Priority booking opens at 10am, 25 April, (sign up here) with public booking opening at 10am, 26 April. Tickets from £20 – no booking fees Website here.
