... me babbies me bairns; 40 years a dame!
... me babbies me bairns; 40 years a dame!
Berwick Kaler and York Theatre Royal's annual christmas panto is an institution, not a production. The plots (or rather plotless) performances are so intrinsically connected with the audience and the locality they have been a feature of the festive calendar for generations of families. Having not originally hailed from North Yorkshire even I am (almost) into my third decade. And this year was the last. Berwick Kaler has retired after 40 years... His uniquely entertaining dames have been a feature of my sons' childhoods and it simply is not christmas without the panto. The remainder of the main cast have become almost as legendary, having all been around longer than me and I am wondering just how they will top it next year....?
It's a completely mad, wildly entertaining and whacky couple of hours with a sort of formula and the usual suspects in character. My most memorable performance was the one in which my then two year old younger son threw his shoe over the balcony during the health and safety announcement, hitting somebody in the stalls. Subsequently, my elder son wrote to Berwick about that and he read it out as one of the letters on stage. That was a good one.
Memories... and Berwick Kaler... the stuff of legends.
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