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| Realistic Painting on the wall |
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| Photos of the Cast, Ben |
Dad went to see Rapunzel at Chipping Norton’s town theater Thursday night with the four oldest, while Mama and Faith took Holminy to Heathrow. After the show, we went to the Chequers Pub , one of Fuller’s top pubs and dating back to the 1500s, in some way (the stone building certainly did look old). We had chips to start, ESB ale, two rabbit-and-noodles split among the kids, and bread-and-butter. Mama and Faith joined us later and took us home. An old gentleman at the next table complimented Dad on the children’s behavior as he left, impressed no doubt by how they quietly drew pictures while Dad was with one or another of them at the toilets.
Pantomime, or Panto, is a Christmas-season tradition of live shows for children and their parents. The one we saw featured many of the conventions, which include: 1. A female character played obviously by a man, 2. Audience participation, with booing the villain, clapping, saying “No, you aren’t” to contradict a character, and “hello”s. 3. The characters talking directly to the audience. 4. Lots of songs and dances. 5. One song with words put up on a banner for the audience to sing along with, and halves of the audience competing as to who can sing the best. 6. The characters throwing candy out to the audience. 7. Being able to take intermission ice cream back to the seat. 8. The story being adapted from a well-known children’s story. 9. Lots of puns. 10. Slapstick.