Dirty Dick (and other Panto smut)

How many are you going to this year BB? Own up.....

JB fondling wee Jimmy Krankie’s breasts is wrong on so many levels I’m not sure where to begin 

Caiphas posted about this in the London Palladium thread and I replied on there .

My neighbours saw the show , they’re not easily offended , they have a good sense of humour , but they felt it overstepped the mark and was embarrassingly crude rather than cheeky innuendo . Families will attend because of the Krankies , and I doubt they’d expect this sort of constant rudeness , Barrowman or not. But then I find him totally unfunny and self indulgent anyway, so I admit I’m completely biased and wouldn’t attend for that reason . Pity because the Krankies can be hilarious and don't need to be crude to get laughs .

Julian Clary gets away with innuendo , he’s witty with it. Barrowman is just crude .

The woman is getting quite a bit of stick om social media as I've seen the story picked up by a few different news pages. Surely she must have known what she was letting herself in for going public with this. Her poor kids are going to have deal with a lot of mickey taking back at school I would imagine.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head @outlander, Barrowmans attempt at humour is not innuendo and it’s not panto. It’s just horribly crude.
Julian Clary on the other hand can do innuendo brilliantly, he is funny, and doesn’t offend with it. I’m not averse to such humour , and I’d love to see him in the Palladium panto , we know what to expect from him and he’s loved for it. But I doubt I’d take kids .

Why on earth did she think that going public about her reaction was in any way sensible?

Write a letter to the theatre management - fine. Copying that letter to the press - foolish.

Matters of taste are very personal and you open yourself up to abuse if you start trying to impose your views on others.

I haven't seen the panto - it is one of a few forms of theatre that holds zero interest - but I do know that it does often tread a fine line between smut and innuendo but to try to come up with a definition of what is acceptable that would please everyone is impossible.

I just don't see the need that some people have to do everything in public. It just smacks of attention seeking - rather than really seeking to effect change.

She is perfectly entitled to her opinions and the best way of handling it would have been to tackle things directly with the producers/theatre management.

But she, instead, chose to get on the Outrage Bus - and make more of it than it really deserved as an issue.

If the producers/theatre had dismissed her - then perhaps takes things to the next level. But no, she went all out for publicity - which is rarely, if ever, the right course of action.

I saw Barrowman's Dick in Birmingham last year. What appears in Manchester this year is the same show with a couple of cast changes. I also saw Clary's Dandini at the Palladium last year and when I'd seen them both, I wrote a piece in which I asked the question "when did panto get dirty". Because for me, that's what both of these shows are about. I deleted the piece because when I read it back it sounded a bit hypocritical. As Oxfordsimon says "Matters of taste are very personal and you open yourself up to abuse if you start trying to impose your views on others."

However, my main gripe with both these shows is that they leave "double entendre" well behind and substitute it for just plain vulgarity. I like both performers I have named, but they have superimposed their own sense of "funny" (not humour) onto the art of panto. I also like pantomime and over the years I have watched and performed panto, I have learned something of the structure and constricts of it, these two shows screw it up and toss it out of the window like Jack's beans. But they throw money at it and do it with such style, the audience loves it.

But, would I tell the local newspaper what I thought? Not a bloody chance! You are giving the shows the best free publicity it could ever have!

I believe Biggins is retiring from Panto after this season - so another seasoned pro leaves the stage.

There are still traditional pantos round the country - Oxford and Chipping Norton being but two. No star names - though Oxford, at least, is trying to make things more 'relevant' these days which rather takes away from the traditions a bit.

But star names in Panto have been around for well over a century - sports stars would often be seen taking the stage.

It is still a genre that leaves me cold - but it is the way in to theatregoing for many children and long may that continue (as long it is good!)

Thank you hulmeman, you’ve expressed what I’m trying to get my head round. I totally agree with your statement that performers are indeed superimposing their own idea of funny (which doesn’t necessarily equal wit) onto pantomime, and substituting vulgarity for double entendres . There’s obviously an audience for it, but it’s not panto , for me it’s disappointing.

I’m intrigued that this year Barrowmans Dick is lacking both a Dame and an Idle Jack character , both of which were in the Birmingham presentation. Any idea why? If you’ve seen the Manchester show I’d be interested to know if they’re missed ?

I’ve read somewhere online (can’t find the source) that Biggins has agreed to one more season after this , at a theatre that means a lot to him . I don’t know if that might refer to the Palladium , but I’ve seen a quote in the past that he has a great affection for the Theatre Royal in Plymouth .

I dread to think!!!!

But there we go, dani has given us a great double entendre which would sit well in a midlands panto. It's topical and a local reference that means one think if you know anything about the legend that is Barrowman's 'er well legend! But the Brum/Cov rivalry gives it another meaning. The legend himself would have got a sat nav out and showed us!!!!!