When theatres and village halls opened up again in 2021 and 2022, I noticed that Cinderella displaced all my other titles to become once again, my most popular pantomime script for amateur companies.
It’s the story we automatically think of when we think of pantomime. By choosing Cinderella, you are almost guaranteed to get good audiences – and bums on seats is a very compelling reason to choose a panto script!
The story also has a special charm all of its own. Cinderella is the archetypal oppressed heroine. All panto heroes and heroines experience some form of adversity – but with crazily egotistical Ugly Sisters and a Wicked Stepmother, Cinderella really is seriously oppressed! We love to hate the baddies who oppress her, and we love to see her triumph over all her difficulties and marry the prince.
Alongside the enduring central story of Cinderella, the pantomime also has the story of Buttons, the character who worships Cinderella but must lose her to the prince. We all love to root for the underdog and the Kitchen scene between Buttons and Cinderella is enormously touching and always an audience favourite.
In commercial panto, the Ugly Sisters are often quite a long way down the bill. However, in both my panto script versions they are very much to the fore and Beryl and Cheryl are great parts for a couple of guys (or girls) who want to push vulgarity to the comic max! Expect a beauty routine like no other, mayhem at the Ballroom and an encounter with a dodgily amorous tree in the Woods.
I deliberately wrote my Version 1 of Cinderella with lots of parts, including a pantomime horse, (I love pantomime horses!) but the Version 2 Cinderella script is specifically designed for groups who want a smaller cast, and it can be performed with as few as eight principals. In this version, the animal is Buttons’ pet mouse. Called simply “Mouse”, it’s a totally charming part for a younger performer, which works brilliantly played by either a boy or a girl.
In both Versions 1 & 2 The Wicked Stepmother provides a wonderful comic baddie for a female actor to really get their teeth into, with lots of outrageous beastliness and a shed load of laughs. In Version 2, the script is written to allow the actor to double the role with the Fairy Godmother in a real tour de force, which is great fun for the performer and the audience.
And of course, in both versions, you have my personal guarantee that Cinderella really does get to go to the Ball!