It’s behind you, apparently.  Oh No it’s not, necessarily.  We’re twenty minutes late but the seats have been booked and the show is on. We’ve driven up to Birmingham Hippodrome to see our friend Shobna Gulati  who stars as the  Fairy Godmother.  The show is Cinderella, the Christmas pantomime.  The show is sold out and apparently it’s the highest grossing pantomime in the world.  To find out about its inner working diary  click here.

This is Brian Connoly and Shobna Gulati. The production values of Pantomime put it on a par with Opera. Opera  was made specifically for the ruling and aristocratic classes. Therefore the ticket prices were always high to match  the production values; The best costumes, the best set design, the best singers etc.  In this way, Pantomime is opera for the people.  All theatre is like this to different degrees.  

Shobna is  brilliant and flew onto the stage with grace and humour. She floated through her set piece songs and I imagined many a young boy, and some older ones,  falling head over heels  in love.  The show was over and the fairy godmother  changed and waited by the stage door only the diamante eyelashes giving  the clue that she is the fairy godmother in disguise. We all went to the restaurant and ate and chatted before in a puff of white stage smoke Shobna disappeared back to the theatre for the evening show while we drive away. 

Me and the GF drive to Warwick and book into The Charter House, a 16^th Century B and B. A framed copy of The Magna Carta written in 1215  issued by King Johns Chancery is on the bedroom wall. The room is called The Kingmaker. 

There are ten different lights plus candle stands. It is small and perfectly formed. There is a stone bust of a king and queen above our bed. A picture of a knight being knighted by a queen and a series of  real swords on the wall.   The pub nearby is adorned with Knights armour and is built of wood and wattle. We are in the shadow of Warwick castle and it is night and I feel there must be stories all around me and ghosts to tell them. I am not sure which is the  pantomime.