Making Mother Goose
5th April 7.30pm
#How British pantomime has evolved and discovering what you want from the Saddleworth Panto?
Hear about the history of Pantomimes over the last 303 years and have your say about what YOU think is important in the Saddleworth Panto: Mother Goose.
Over the past few years, the Saddleworth panto has grown a national reputation for excellence and it has now become a subject of academic study! Over the past 18 months, the writer and director of our panto, Ben Richards has been researching the world’s first PhD in contemporary pantomime.
Ben will give an informative and entertaining 20 minute talk of the history of pantomimes and his learnings to date, followed by an open Q&A / discussion for the audience to give their own ideas and debate what THEY feel is important for a Saddleworth panto.
Not only will this feedback be used to develop this year’s panto Mother Goose , but it will be used to informed industry wide recommendations as part of his study (the Saddleworth panto 2022-2024 is a core case study for his findings).
His research question is “How is Contemporary British Pantomime responding to evolving ideas of identity?” Subjects he has been wrestling with are:
• what expectations should we have of productions of Aladdin in a multi-ethnic society?
• How do evolving ideas of gender binaries and the trans community affect the performance of pantomime dames?
• And how should productions portray characters with physical differences (e.g. in performers with dwarfism in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) or neurodiversity?
Whether you have strong opinions on what you’d like to see on stage, or a wider interest in the genre, or theatre as a whole, this is great opportunity to have your ideas affect ongoing practice across the industry.
You can read more about Ben and pantomime research at thepantoblog
Making Mother Goose is on Friday 5th April 7.30pm at Millgate Arts Centre.
Tickets are free but please book in advance.
