Aladdin Pantomime at the Hackney Empire

Posted on January 2nd, 2010 by g.
Categories: Living Abroad - Life in London.

This evening we wrapped up our Christmas festivities in London with another British tradition — the Aladdin Pantomime at the Hackney Empire. It was an interesting experience and best enjoyed with a pint of beer :-) .

Pantomime (not mime) is a genre of musical-comedy performance that some describe as British national treasure. It doesn’t follow the the ‘real’ story line and is full of silly comedy. For those in North Carolina, it is somewhat like David Ira Wood’s A Christmas Carol, but to the extreme. Wikipedia describes Pantomime as having a number of conventions — including the following which held in this performance.

  • The leading male juvenile character is played by a young woman in tight-fitting male garments that make her female charms evident.
  • An older woman, often the hero’s mother, is played by a man in drag.
  • Risqué double entendre, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases. This is, in theory, over the heads of the (many) children in the audience.
  • Audience participation, including calls of “Look behind you!” The audience is always encouraged to boo the villain and “awwwww” the poor victims.
  • A song combining a well-known tune with re-written lyrics. The audience is encouraged to sing the song; often one half of the audience is challenged to sing ‘their’ chorus louder than the other half.
  • An animal, played by an actor in ‘animal skin’ or animal costume. It is often a pantomime horse or (or camel), played by two actors in a single costume, one as the head and front legs, the other as the body and back legs.
  • The members of the cast throw out sweets to the children in the audience.
  • Characters squirt members of the audience with water guns.
  • A slapstick comedy routine is be performed within the show.
  • The Chorus, who can be considered ‘Extras’ on-stage, who usually appear in all scenes and who perform a variety of songs and dances throughout the show. They are a very important role in Pantomimes.

The Hackney Empire is a beautiful old theatre — if in the middle of nowhere. It actually would have been a straight shot on the newly branded London Overground, but unfortunately it was closed for engineering works this weekend. The interior is beautifully decorated like many of the theatres in the West End. Interestingly, the bar is actually in the theatre — which was convenient at the interval for this performance :-) . Sadly, the theatre is closing this month due to financial difficulties. Though there is a chance they will reopen.

So, while not the highlight of London’s theatreland, it was a great experience. And we can cross it off the list of 100 things to do before leaving London.

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Running in London, let the hard work begin…

Posted on January 2nd, 2010 by k.
Categories: Living Abroad - Life in London.

Hmmm…my impending training for the Bath Half Marathon (March 7th) brings to mind a famous psychology study. In the study, college students are asked to sign up to participate in a psych study (as they often are on college campuses, right…). And in addition to the usual monetary reward, they could choose a ‘bonus item’. On the form upon completing an exercise (which was meant to detract from the actual purpose of the study), they were asked if they would like an apple or a candy bar as their ‘bonus’. And they were then told to come back the next day to pick it up. Upon arriving to pick up their ‘bonus’ on day 2, they were given the option to change their choice. In most cases, folks would on day 1 say that they wanted the apple. And then, upon turning up on day 2 and being given the chance to change their choice, would switch over to the candy bar.

The moral of the story being that humans are idealistic in looking ahead and crafting their ideal selves, but when the rubber meets the road we’re generally lazy sods who go for instant gratification. (or something similar)

Such is the case with this half marathon! It was all well and good when I signed up last September. But now, with only 10 weeks to go, I am not looking forward to the torture of training. Having signed up for the ‘apple’ six months ago, at 2.5 months out (and in the dead of the winter) I’m suddenly craving candy. Luckily, G’s on the sidelines and won’t let that happen….  :)

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