Another year – another panto! Another panto script. 2025 – 2026 season edition. For the last ten years I have been penning original tales for Pantoland. For my eighth script I would be having another crack at not only a classic, but at re-writing the first panto script I ever wrote back in 2015: Aladdin. The original plan had just been to use it again. But as I read it, new ideas began to form, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity for a little bit of editing, the opportunity to have another bash. A different direction to take the story. Yes, the main ingredients remained scooped inside. But with new spices.

The first subplot to change was the love story. If I was going to write Aladdin 2.0, I wanted it to be markedly different. There were certain elements that had to remain, no question. Otherwise it wouldn’t be Aladdin the Panto. I would have an audience uprising on my hands if I cut Widow Twankey. Who would want that? You need her grumpy, volatile nature. She’s the draw. Nor could you lose the ever-cuddly Wishee Washee. The audience needs their connection – the character to become best friends with.

No, the love plot was the thing. I replaced it with a new character, Dotty Handkerchief. Lovely Dotty. Poor thing – she’s allergic to the flowers at the Palace! How unfortunate. She just can’t stop her ah-ah-ah-AHCHOOOS!! Now here was an opportunity. Snot. Slime. Water pistols. All at an unsuspecting audience. All those “ewwws!” are when you know you’ve hit the panto mark!

Next, I needed a foil for Widow Twankey. Someone who riled her up, distracted her from Aladdin’s misdemeanours and generally knew what everyone was up to. A nosey washing rivel who revelled in getting on Widow Twankey’s nerves. Without a name I couldn’t build character, so that became the mission. I went back to the source material: One Thousand and One Nights. Amongst all the stories, I found one that had bags of panto potential: Mustapha. I could do a lot of jokes with that. Mustapha listen … Mustapha nose … Mustapha sniff. Mustapha scrub. Boom boom! Mustapha Scrub! The best washer has spoken! (That’ll get on Widow Twankey’s nerves. Excellent!)

Finally, I wanted some animals. Not live ones, you understand. But visually, they are always an opportunity for colourful costumes. This Aladdin was set with a Bollywood-vibe. I considered a lot of candidates until the perfect idea struck: tigers. Oh, yes. There we go. The baddy minions. Kitty jokes, cat-terisms, tiger sneakiness. Names? Roarsome and Clawsome. Done. But they needed something else. Another identity. What else? Back to cats. What do they like to do? Take things, shiny things. Steal possessions. Thieves, robbers … and with the tiger black and orange tiger stripes … bandits! Tiger Bandits. Why not? This is why panto is fantastic. “Why not?” is the answer to most ridiculous ideas. Roarsome and Clawsome the Tiger Bandits, minions to the baddy. Sold.

Done. This panto was now the same, but different. All the elements of a classic, but with a few new added spices to justify its existence. One Aladdin out, the new Aladdin … in! Oh yes it is!