Potted Panto returns to London

This Christmas, London’s stage is set for a seasonal treat: Potted Panto, the lightning-fast “seven-for-the-price-of-one” pantomime mash-up, returns to the atmospheric Wilton’s Music Hall for a strictly limited run on Wed 3 Dec – Sat 3 Jan 2026.

The idea is gloriously simple: two mischievous actors charge through a selection of much-loved pantomimes in a single 80-minute show. There’s a thrillingly chaotic jump from rubbing Aladdin’s magic lamp to roaming the golden streets of Dick Whittington’s London, from rushing Cinderella to the ball to scaling Jack’s beanstalk.  

There are absurdly quick costume changes and a pacing that will have your head spinning.  

The Olivier Award-nominated celebration is the longest-running festive show in London, and takes in a substantial chunk of panto lore.  No matter what your favourite panto is, or if you’re just a general fan of raucous nights at the theatre, there’ll be plenty to love here.  

Performed in one of the world’s oldest surviving music halls, this whole show  is a whirlwind of fun and laughter, where some of Britain’s most traditional stories are given a new lease of life. Whether you’re with the family or just wanting a great night out, this is a wholesome slab of festive fun which should be missed.

As Potted Panto opens this week, we caught up with Daniel Clarkson, who cowrote and stars in this wonderful show.

So, what’s the deal here? Were you just indecisive about which panto was your favourite to perform?

Not at all! It’s less indecision and more what I like to call panto diplomacy. It’s like being asked to choose your favourite child.  Of course, I know I’m my mum’s favourite, but she’d never admit it publicly and it’s the same with pantos.  

The truth is each panto is a joy for completely different reasons. That’s what makes Potted Panto so much fun to perform, you get to jump between all these brilliantly silly worlds at breakneck speed. One minute I’m being booed as King Rat, the next I’m waving a wand as the magical fairy, and the next I’m playing all seven dwarfs!  

They’re all part of the same gloriously chaotic tradition, and I love them all for different reasons.

So not indecisive, just diplomatic!

Is it a big ask to blend the stories of seven pantomimes? Or are there common themes running through most works?

It sounds like a big ask, but pantomimes actually share a lot of the same DNA, heroes to cheer, villains to boo, and jokes that absolutely shouldn’t work but somehow bring the house down. They all follow that wonderfully mix of magic, mayhem and audience interaction that we’ve all grown up with. Traditions that we essentially learn from birth. I stand by the fact that as soon as you’re born the midwife shouts “oh no it isn’t” at you to get you on the right track!  

And this is exactly what we wanted to play with. By putting seven of them together in just one show, we get to celebrate all those familiar moments while sending them up at the same time.  Potted Panto is our love letter to the genre. It’s a cheeky homage that pokes fun, winks at the audience, and still honours this uniquely British form of theatre that we all, somehow, can’t help but adore.

‍

Has panto changed as a form over the years? Are we seeing the same productions as 100 years ago, or is there room for innovation in all these stories?  

Can I say both?  Panto has definitely evolved over the years, yet it still somehow clings proudly to the traditions that have been passed down through the ages. And honestly, that’s part of its magic, it’s the old world colliding joyfully with the modern one.

Pantomime has always loved poking fun at whatever’s happening in popular culture, and that hasn’t changed. What has changed is the speed audiences now expect references to be bang up to date. I once tried slipping in a joke about William Pitt the Younger, but shockingly no one leapt to their feet in appreciation… so back to my K-pop demon-hunter references I go!

Many cultures have special types of performance at Christmas, but why do you think panto is so peculiar to Britain?

Honestly, Panto is uniquely British because it embraces two things we’re exceptionally good at: being silly and not taking ourselves too seriously. So many cultures have beautiful, formal Christmas traditions… and then there’s us, gleefully shouting “HE’S BEHIND YOU!” at full volume while a grown adult dressed as a cow dances across the stage.

It grew out of our love for music hall, slapstick, wordplay and a good old-fashioned double entendre, all those wonderfully eccentric ingredients that the British instinctively understand. And because panto invites the audience to join in, it becomes this shared national ritual. We don’t just watch it; we participate in it, loudly and badly.

There’s also something very British about celebrating Christmas by watching things go a bit wrong, props breaking, wigs slipping, the Dame missing her entrance because she’s stuck in the toilet (This happened to me once in the deepest depths of Lancashire but that’s a whole other story!) It’s chaos, but charming chaos, and we adore it.

I think it reflects who we are as a nation, playful, irreverent, slightly ridiculous, and happiest when we’re all in on the joke together. And that almost makes you proud to be British doesn’t it!  

Holding the title of the West End's longest-running pantomime is a big deal. Why do you think the show has found so much longevity?

I think the show’s longevity comes down to a combination of familiarity and surprise. People love the stories they grew up with, Cinderella, Aladdin, Snow White ,but they also love seeing them turned completely on their heads. Potted Panto gives audiences the comfort of the classics with the joy of watching us desperately try to cram them all into one show without it falling apart… which, to be fair, it often does.

There’s also something about the spirit of panto that people connect with year after year: it’s silly, it’s joyful, and it lets everyone, no matter their age, feel part of the fun. I’m performing the show with Gary Trainor this year ; a bona fide West End star who’s just come from Back to the Future the Musical playing Doc. I’ve known Gary for well over a decade, and I absolutely adore sharing a stage with him. I think audiences can sense that we genuinely love the show and have so much fun performing together. We make each other laugh an embarrassing amount onstage, and that energy is infectious.

And of course, let’s be honest Potted Panto is incredible value for money. Seven pantos for the price of one? I’d like to see Asda top those kinds of bargains.

While theatre has always played around with gender roles, it’s particularly prevalent in pantomime. Was the form trying to be deliberately subversive in this, or were there more practical reasons?

I think with panto it’s a wonderful mix of both. Theatre has always enjoyed bending gender roles, but in pantomime it became almost a defining feature, partly because it was cheekily subversive, and partly because it was simply practical.

Back in the early days, the “Principal Boy” was played by a woman largely because she could sing the role better and, let’s be honest, Victorian audiences rather enjoyed seeing a woman in tights and hot pants. We do the same with Garry in Potted Panto, and I think modern audiences appreciate it every bit as much! Meanwhile, the Dame emerged because male comics were the bankable stars of the era, so sticking them in a frock was both funny and guaranteed to sell a few more tickets.

What’s brilliant is that those practical decisions evolved into a tradition audiences now absolutely adore. It gives panto this joyful freedom where performers can be silly, outrageous, and completely liberated from reality. It’s less about making a political point and more about giving everyone permission to play.

I try to remember that whenever I don a frock to play both Ugly Sisters. And let’s be honest nothing unites a room quite like a full-grown man trying to keep his dignity while squeezed into two oversized dresses at once.

‍

Is a run of shows like this the best way to counter over-indulgence at Christmas? All that charging around must keep the weight off.

These are great questions, you have literally stumbled on to my, how to lose weight at Christmas secret! I’m genuinely thinking about releasing a festive work out video entitled “the Potted Panto Plan”. We really do spend the entire show tearing around the stage changing into different costumes, exiting one side of the stage and then immediately appearing on the other. We have two amazing ASM’s backstage with us, James and Georgia (Who also do a couple of parts throughout the show) and they are dashing between the wings with the right dress or wig ready to throw them on us and send us back out! I honestly think they should sell tickets for seats backstage, you wouldn’t believe the speed these guys can get me out a beanstalk and into a fairy dress. It’s a unique set of skills but they have them!  

What is your favourite part of Potted Panto?

I get a real thrill when we do Potted Potted Panto! It opens the second half, and to bring everyone up to speed and remind them where we are, we perform the entire first half in three minutes… then one minute… then thirty seconds. It’s the perfect mix of organised chaos and genuine sheer terror. It will wake you up instantly if you’ve had one or two mulled wines the night before!

I also love playing Prince Charming, especially when he descends into the audience to find out who fits the glass slipper. No spoilers, but it’s always an unsuspecting dad who ends up being commanded to dance with his Prince. That might be my favourite moment, because I’m never quite sure how my new-found princesses will respond. We’ve had everything from awkward dad dancing to full-on breakdancing, but the one constant is the look of pure horror and embarrassment on their kids’ faces. I can’t help but live for that.

Potted Panto comes to London’s Wilson Hall on Weds 3 Dec 2025 – Sat 3 Jan 2026.

www.pottedpanto.com

All images by Geraint Lewis