It is all about introducing children

to the delight of theatre,

thrill them with a funny

but beautiful tale at Christmas

when they are young, and in hope,

you will have them for life.

I was seven before I first saw my first panto,

played out for some reason

on my birthday and with Jimmy Edwards

and Arthur Askey on stage,

Hello playmates and bushy moustached Whacko

transferred from my bedside radio

to the grandness of the Birmingham Hippodrome,

my birthday, I needed to visit the toilet

during the festive fun, pestering my dad

to let me go, much to his annoyance

and with thirty four year old surrender,

he took me, relief turned disappoint

as whilst marvelling, eyes on stalks,

at the opulence on show,

I missed my first curtain call, a first break

in show business

as all birthday boys and girls

were invited to the stage;

let down by the call of nature,

upset by the lack of patience on my part,

I still await my first curtain call.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017