Panto Time; Oh Yes It Is! {New Theatre Royal Review}

Through my whole life in Lincoln, we have always gone to one at Christmas time. In fact, until I was married 8 years ago, it was an every year tradition, but through life and family changes it began to get missed as Rob and I had more to consider at this time of year. Needless to say attending the traditional Theatre Royal panto went by the wayside and as the kids haven't really been the right age, we haven't been to a professional pantomime in years. This year saw our love for the theatre change dramatically. We have been blessed with seeing some fantastic performances in local theatres and it has very much become something that we really love doing. It has shown our children such a magical world so when we were asked to go to the opening night of Aladdin at the NEW THEATRE ROYAL in Lincoln we were so excited at the chance to see our first panto in years!

The NEW THEATRE ROYAL is a very familiar building for me. It has been a staple in the city for years and having fallen on tough times some years ago a new team swooped in and have transformed it. It is the same old shell, and the traditional interiors but they have brought new life to theatre in the city and have a packed schedule running all year round. What's wonderful is it is run by the team in a modern way. They are present, not only in themselves, but on social media and in the city. They run competitions all the time to win tickets to events and they have just become a rejuvenated household name. We have 3 theatres in Lincoln, which for a small city is amazing. Plus an absolute bounty of amateur and volunteer dramatic societies who always have something on offer. What a lucky thing to have, a city full of such art!

Anyway, to the panto itself, well, to save from all the usual cliche hollas, it was fantastic {Oh yes it was}. If you are looking for something that makes you laugh and cheer in all the ways a panto should, this really is a perfect example of that. There were so many elements I loved, that it's hard to write them all down. The cast's {especially the dancers} costumes were amazing, everything was beautiful Arabian themed and the glitter sure was a plenty. The colours were fab and everyone looked so slick. The art on stage for the backdrops were simple, but clever and made such a great setting for the retelling of this classic story. Songs a plenty and loads of ones that are popular chart songs, and the ones that get stuck in your head mean that they really were panto great! Imagine The Clash and ''Rock The Casbah'' and the words being changed to suit the story! Writing genius! It was all just so catchy! Some of the main characters would be familiar faces to some, not so much to us, just because of what we watch on TV but as a cast, they seemed to fit well, and respond naturally in friendship and support as you would expect. One character that shone through though and very much carried the night was the very trusty Dame, Donna Kebab. What a character! Her quick wit and ability to rhyme exceedingly well just really carried the scenes through the performance and was a stand out character for us. And that's not to single anyone out, Jasmine and Aladdin in their singing ability were brilliant and all the main cast really performed. It was so enjoyable. Watching the kids, especially Etta in absolute awe of the dancers was amazing for us too. She was transfixed; absolutely couldn't believe what she was seeing and then to see actual Princess Jasmine, well, I think she was really blown away. And for Raphael, I think he really enjoyed Aladdin and actually one of the young boy dancers. He just last week started ballet and tap lessons at a local dance school and seeing this young lad on stage was inspiring. And that is exactly what you want. I want to take our kids to the theatre and see things that challenge them to want to try new activities. I want to laugh and enjoy the moment and come away all of us feeling a little bit more full of life and happiness and a joy to be part of this city and the want to contribute to its great reputation!

Thank you to the NEW THEATRE ROYAL for allowing me to use their images.