The A to Z of Pantsoc

A – Acting! Some might say you need to be able to act to be in Panto. We say no!
B – “Beauty and the Breasts” – full of scantily clad women mixed in with some traditional Panto characters and knob gags. A fine mixture.
C – “Cinderella”. The first Panto written by a Pantsoc member (Paul Young!) and not somebody else
D – Druids! Featured in “Sleeping Beauty” and “Beauty and the Breasts”. Always wear bin bags.
E – Egginton. Rosie Egginton in fact – the Queen of Pantsoc and founder of the society. A legend. Great at lugging university technical equipment around campus at 3 in the morning.
F – Frightening. Miss Frightening. In “Cinderella” in 2006. Evil Stepmum who took over the Baron’s house and turned it into an Ann-Summers stylee sex-shop. Classy!
G – Gutso. Decided at a committee meeting that this would be a great name for a character in a panto, but he has yet to feature in one. Someone write him in!
H – Horse. Panto Horse – DOBBIN! Everybody loves Dobbin, especially when he dances!
I – Improper. Could be a word used to describe various scenes and lines in previous Pantsoc Panto’s.
J – Jo and Jess. Jo is the Costume Superwoman Did all our costumes in about 2 and a half weeks for Beauty and the Breasts. She also used to be Chair. A true Panto trooper! Jess James is now Chair, used to be Vice and has everything in the panto from performing to producing to directing!
K – Kiss. The Panto kiss is very important! Every Panto has one – Sleeping Beauty and Sir Prize, Beth and Prince Fabian and Cinderella and Prince Charming plus many more have touched lips in recent years!
L – Little Prick. That’s all it took for Sleeping Beauty to fall into a deep slumber in our 2004 production!
M - Men Dressed as Women. A panto is never complete without one (or two) of these! In Pantsoc history there have been four Dames – Dame Edith of the Shoe (Richard Hubbert – Sleeping Beauty), Madame Hussein (Steve Henneberry, Beauty n the Breasts) and Chardonnay (Steve H again!) and Grettle (Ben Welby) in Cinderella.
N – Nik Morris in leather trousers strutting around the stage, leading with his crotch in Beauty and the Breasts in 2004. Unforgettable!
O - Odd scenes. Anyone remember the Beetleman scene?!
P – Pants. Some people think we are a pants-loving society and all we do is wear our pants on our heads. Idiots! Pantsoc = Pantomime!
Q – Quest for the Perfect Pub. Prince Smarming and Sir Prize were put of such a quest in Sleeping Beauty!
R – Rumplestiltskin. “Don’t say my name you bastard!!” Whoops. We just did.
S – Sexy Dancers. Always in Pantsoc productions to warm the cockles of the men in the audience!
T – Tights. No panto would ever be complete without men wearing tights!
U – Unthinkable. Life before 2003 at York University. Why? No Panto of course!
V – Vegetable. A giant carrot was arguably the star of “Sleeping Beauty” in 2004.
W – Witch. A constant feature of pantomime’s past, played to perfection by Emily Chester in “Sleeping Beauty and Beauty” and the “Breasts”! She was bloody scary!
X – Xenocryst. A Crystal in an ignecous rock which is not derived from the orginial magma. Not related to Panto, but we did have pebble on stage for one scene in our first Panto so I think it counts!
Y – Young. Paul Young. First Pantsoc member to write a Panto just for us! He wrote (and co-directed) “Cinderella” in 2006.
Z – Zips. Featured on many Panto costumes in the past!