PANTOMIME SCRIPTS

I feel very strongly that pantomime is an undervalued and often under-developed form of theatre, as it introduces children at a very early age to the basic concepts of good and evil,  right and wrong, romance and danger, comedy and drama, etc.  All too often I've found pantomimes to be lazily written, little more than three hours of fist-eatingly painful pier-theatre jokes and slapstick with ill-fitting muscial numbers crowbarred in there without a story basis. 

I see pantomimes more as a form of children's musical theatre, needing light and shade as much as any other other form of theatre, not least for the sake of the parents who have forked out the not- inconsiderable loot for the tickets!

My five pantomime scripts, which have been produced very successfully around the UK, and as far away as New Zealand, are available for hire through me. I try to bring a fresh spin on the fairytales, instead of resorting to the washed-up, wrung-out cliche's so overly familiar to the pantomime industry;
My five pantomimes are;
ALADDIN, PETER PAN RETURNS!, JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, SINBAD! and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
Outlines are below;

ALADDIN

In the happy and harmonious Arabian city of Agribar, the population awaits the forthcoming magical Transformation of Princess Jasmine into their mighty Ruler by means of the Enchanted Throne.  Every fifty years, at the stroke of midnight, as is the custom of this city, a new Ruler of the City, selected from the Royal Family’s offspring, will sit on this magical throne and be endowed with incredible magical powers.

Princess Jasmine, while sadly being an orphan, is much beloved by the people, and while she has doubts about her ability to be Ruler of Agribar, her loyal servant and friend, Margerina, is always there to provide assurance and support.

Outside the palace walls, life is very different for another orphan.  Aladdin is a good-hearted boy who feels he is meant for more than his current profession of flogging cheap and gaudy merchandise to American tourists.  He looks upon the statue of Princess Jasmine (whom he has fallen in love with) that stands in the marketplace and dreams the impossible dream; of what it would be like to meet her.

Be careful what you wish for!

The palace is shockingly invaded by Sudoku, an evil magician with a grudge against the Princess, who has stolen the very powerful Box of Delights from its Sacred Temple.  With the Box, he conjours up a Minotaur, a terrifying being of immense strength that overpowers the Palace Guards.

He reveals he intends to be sit on the Enchanted Throne at midnight, that it will be him who receives the incredible magical powers that are due to Jasmine.   Then all of Agribar, perhaps Arabia itself, will fall to this will.

Fleeing the Palace, a distraught Jasmine and Margerina meet a dumb-struck Aladdin who promises to help them, firstly by deciphering the strange writing on the ornamental brass lamp at Jasmine’s waist. It’s an old family heirloom she was commanded never to part with.

Upon speaking aloud the mystical words, a less-than-mighty genie is revealed. Homeroid the Humungous is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he reveals the only way to beat a Minotaur is with the magical Sword of Destiny that lies in the Cave of the Impossible.   One needs to travel through time to collect the Three Golden Boxes needed to enter the Cave.  Luckily, his TARDIS can do just that.

Pursued in their own TARDIS by Sudoku and Smeagol, his oppressed and bullied whelp of a sidekick,  it becomes a race against time to overcome the terrifying obstacles that stand in the way of reclaiming the Palace from the Minotaur, before that very fateful stroke of midnight seals their fate!


                     PETER PAN RETURNS!                    


It is a sad night for the Darling  family.  Having been let go from his job at the bank, Mr Darling can no longer afford to keep the house that the Darlings have lived in for generations.   When tomorrow comes, they, along with their rather butch but utterly devoted long-time servant Nana, will be moving out for good.

The Darling’s only daughter, Wendy, a feisty. thoroughly 21st-first century teenager no longer believes in anything as ‘silly’ as magic, despite her mother’s pleas to never stop using her imagination, for with our imagination, ‘anything is possible.’

Alone in her room on this gloomiest of nights, Wendy decides to try one last time to believe in Peter Pan, the hero of the book her mother used to read to her as a child,  before Wendy became ‘too grown up’ to believe in such things.

With that restored belief, the incredible happens, and Peter Pan appears in her room, followed by a rather gangly and insecure Tinkerbell, who is secretly desperately in love with the entirely unaware Peter.

Having overcome her shock, Wendy tells her woes to Peter, who comes up with the brilliant plan of stealing Captain Hook’s treasure chest from Treasure Island, allowing the Darlings to afford to stay in their beloved family home.

It will mean a dangerous and epic trek through the scariest parts of NeverLand; from  surviving being chopped to pieces by Red Indians, to enduring the singing of King Neptune and his Mer-Men, the terrors of the Swamp of Certain Death, the freezing, snow-bound homeland of The Abominable Snowman…

And don’t even ask what has become of The Lost Boys lately!

But with love, courage and imagination, truly ‘anything is possible’.


SINBAD!

When Sinbad, his motley crew of Daniel, Emma and Rupert (who swear they have never so much as heard of Harry Potter), plus Bridget Bones the love-lorn parrot, agree to travel to the terrifying and mysterious lost island of Atlantis to find a cure for the cursed Princess Jasmine, they cannot forsee the trials, tribulations, romancing and dancing that awaits them! 

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

Moody but good-hearted, hoodie-wearing 21st century teenager Jack, lives in a grim London council flat with his Auntie Beryl.  It is not a place where miracles are supposed to happen.  But when they get a visit from a mysterious charity-collector on Christmas Eve, they have no idea of the adventure that a simple act of generosity will unleash!

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

When spoilt Prince Leo and his castle staff are transformed into various Cat-people by the rather over-sensitive Spirit Of The Forest, only the arrival of feisty farm-girl Beatrice can offer the chance of redemption.



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