Anna Burnside enjoys Johnny McKnight’s latest Christmas offering.
Peter Panto has lost his shadow. Yes, it does bear a remarkable resemblance to a Primark onesie. And like fast fashion night wear, this plot point is soon forgotten amid the twerking, rival theatre-baiting and zeitgesity gags of a Johnnie McKnight panto.
This is McKnight’s second time around the block with a freehand take on JM Barrie’s early 20th-century tale of the boy who never grows up.
Wendy (Emma Mullen) is transposed to the West End of Glasgow with her parents, Mr and Mrs Darling Darling. Peter is still stuck at age 12 with a pal of Native American origin, now called Jaeger Lily. But his main wingman is Stinkerbell, a sexually incontinent fairy with a Catherine’s of Partick hat habit and a flatulence problem.
Captain Hook makes the cut as does his incompetent sidekick, Anita Wee Wee. Not sure if Barrie would have signed off on that one.
Nana, the babysitting dog, is also present and correct: now a 6’4” pink poodle in a tutu played by Mark Mackinnon.
All the familiar elements of a McKnight panto are there. There’s a lesbian romance and Stink gives Alan from Largs in the front row the full Diamond Dolls treatment.
Shade is thrown at other pantos, fun is poked at the need for set and costume changes (Hook and Wee Wee—Robert Jack and Katie Barnett—are also playing the Darling Darlings.) There are snarky references to the cast’s previous and current roles - Shetland watchers may spot, beneath Captain Hook’s McQueen-via-Shein finery, the dodgy husband in the current series.
Even one of McKnight’s favourite jokes is back. Why were the baker’s hands dirty? He was kneading a jobby.
Using Mackinnon as a visual joke is a criminal waste, but the flimsier elements of this production are forgivable because of McKnight’s huge personality and massive commitment. He can update panto’s enduring traditions like no other as well as creating his own.
Example? The cast of the Tron panto singing ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ truly heralds the opening of the festive season.
Peter Panto and the Incredible Stinkerbell performs at the Tron Theatre until January 5, 2025. For further details, go to their website.
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
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