Pantomimes

Pantomimes
FHODS has staged an annual pantomime since 1975

Pantomime — universally known in Britain simply as "panto" — is a uniquely British theatrical tradition and one of the most beloved forms of popular entertainment the country has produced. Performed every year in the weeks around Christmas, pantomime combines music, slapstick comedy, audience participation, fairy-tale storytelling, and spectacular costume in a form that is entirely unlike anything else on stage. It is theatre that unites generations: children roar with delight at the villains, grandparents recognise the jokes, and everyone is expected — indeed required — to shout back at the performers.

Origins and Tradition

Despite its name deriving from the ancient Greek and Roman pantomimus (a solo masked performer telling stories through movement), the British pantomime bears no resemblance to its classical namesake. Its true roots lie in the Italian commedia dell'arte tradition of the 16th and 17th centuries, brought to Britain and transformed over centuries into something entirely its own.

By the Victorian era, pantomime had settled into the form recognisable today: loose adaptations of fairy tales and folk stories populated by stock characters and infused with topical humour, local references, spectacular scenery, and songs. The traditions that define it are gloriously, defiantly British:

The Dame — the pantomime's comic matriarch, always played by a man in outrageous costume, drawing on a centuries-old tradition of cross-dressing comedy stretching from the Elizabethan stage through music hall.

The Principal Boy — the heroic young lead, traditionally played by a woman in breeches, a convention that dates to the Victorian era and persists in amateur pantomime to this day.

The Villain — hissed and booed at every entrance, relishing every moment of audience opprobrium.

The Comic — the Widow Twankey, the Silly Billy, the bumbling sidekick — whose role is chaos, confusion, and the slapstick set-piece.

Audience participation is not merely permitted but mandatory. The audience shouts "He's behind you!", responds to "Oh yes it is!" with "Oh no it isn't!", and warns the hero of approaching danger with collective urgency. A pantomime audience is not passive; it is a cast member.

Pantomime at FHODS

The Folkestone-Hythe Operatic and Dramatic Society staged its first Christmas pantomime in 1975, initially at the Leas Pavilion Theatre before transferring to the Leas Cliff Hall, where the tradition ran for over two decades. Since moving to The Tower Theatre in 2007, the pantomime has become the centrepiece of the society's annual programme — the production that draws the largest audiences, involves the most people, and generates the most community excitement of any event in the FHODS calendar.

The 2024 production of Aladdin marked FHODS' 50th annual pantomime — a remarkable half-century of festive theatre serving the Folkestone and Hythe community.

FHODS pantomimes typically involve the largest casts of any production in the year, bringing together principal performers, adult ensemble, senior dancers, and children's groups across multiple performance teams.

FHODS Pantomimes in the Archive

Archived Productions

2023 · 49th

Sleeping Beauty (2023) · Dir. John Pritchard & Michelle Hartley · MD Andy Hartley

2024 · 50th

Aladdin (2024) · Written & Dir. Mike Manton · MD Steve Hawkins · Choreo. Sophie Burgess-Adams

2025 · 51st

Jack and the Beanstalk (2025) · Dir. Alice Hawkins · MD Andy Hartley · Choreo. Sophie Burgess-Adams

2026 · 52nd

Dick Whittington (2026) · December 2026

FHODS has staged an annual pantomime every year since 1975, pausing only in 2020–21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Productions prior to 2023 are not yet fully archived. If you have photographs, programmes or memories from earlier pantomimes, please contact Gary Ingoldby-Spate.