This year's Winni Playhouse panto seeks to look below the surface

MEREDITH — Julia Thomson’s move from London to New Hampshire was supposed to be temporary, just a couple of years, for her husband to take advantage of a professional opportunity. That was in 2005, and they’re still here.

Leaving her native country for the New World has required some adjustments, but there’s one holiday tradition that the Thomsons haven’t had to give up, and that’s because their local theater, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, is one of the few places on this side of the Atlantic Ocean to stage a pantomime, a form of theater popular in the United Kingdom during the holiday season.

“It’s very much a tradition back home,” said Thomson, a legal consultant who lives in Meredith with her husband and two teenaged children. “It is just a great, lighthearted way for the whole family to enjoy something at the theater. It’s appropriate for all ages, it’s a great family trip out. Each age group is going to have something different they find enjoyable.”

A panto, as it’s often referred to, is defined by several characteristics. There’s a bit of gender bending, as the lead male romantic character is always played by a female, and the lead comedic female role is played by a man. They are usually based on a familiar tale, which is somewhat inaccurately retold, and the rewrite often contains a few references to current events. There are song-and-dance numbers – this year’s Winni Playhouse show will have 19 of them – both from today’s pop charts and from decades past. There’s at least one wedding, and there’s lots of slapstick-style humor, double entendres, and audience interaction. It’s theater that doesn’t take itself, or anything else, for that matter, too seriously.

It’s no coincidence that the Winnipesaukee Playhouse would borrow an English tradition. The panto first came to Meredith five years ago, thanks to Neil Pankhurst, one of the founders of the theater, its current artistic director, and a native Englishman.

Pankhurst said this year’s panto will be a retelling of the story of “Beauty and the Beast,” a centuries-old fable about love and true beauty.

“This will be the fifth (pantomime),” Pankhurst said. The Winnipesaukee Theater’s first panto was “Aladdin,” which was followed by “Sleeping Beauty,” “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “The Little Mermaid” in subsequent years. “Beauty and the Beast” will debut on Dec. 19 and run through Dec. 31.

“In this (panto), we’ve gone back to the original story,” as opposed to the well-known Disney version, Pankhurst said. “One of the major differences is that the prince is not this arrogant youth – in fact that’s not how the original story went.” Instead, the young prince is transformed into a beast by a spiteful fairy.

Also in Pankhurst’s version, Belle is obsessed with the story of “Cinderella,” which will be the panto for next year at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse.

Pankhurst said he started offering the pantos to provide audiences something different from the shows that American theaters tend to produce during the holiday season. The Playhouse has never offered something like “The Nutcracker,” so he doesn’t know if the pantos perform better, from a sales perspective, than something more conventional for the market. But he said that the pantos are starting to catch on.

“It can fluctuate up and down. It can be very title-oriented,” he said. “In general, the trend has been a growing popularity over the years.”

Pantos are entertaining, he said, but mixed in with the jokes and dancing is a message.

“Of all the pantos, this is one with the strongest moral,” Pankhurst said, “not to judge a book by its cover, but to look below the surface.”

Thomson has been a fan of the Winnipesaukee Playhouse since its early days in The Weirs, and has been on its board of directors since 2016. She grew up seeing pantos in London, and said the Pankhurst productions are true to style.

“It is very corny, it’s very British humor, I love to see that it has caught on over here.” She added that she hoped the production of “Beauty and the Beast” would entice some people who had never visited the Playhouse before. “I would encourage everyone to go. The panto is a great showcase, accessible to the whole family. Come to the panto, stay for the rest of the season.”