Cinderella: A Queer Sort of Pantomime

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer



Hello, boys and girls and everyone else!

Just in time to beat the midwinter misery, join radical queer feminist burlesquers LASHINGS OF GINGER BEER TIME in their first foray into full-length foolishness! Yes, it’s time for the very first Lashings of Ginger Beer Time Pantomime! Gleefully revelling in all the best elements of panto -- appalling puns, women in tailcoats and knee-boots, happy endings and slightly inebriated Fairy Godparents -- we’re ditching the more faily bits of the pantomime tradition in order to fit in more jokes about weasels.

Life is far from a gay carefree idyll for poor Cinderella... tormented by her stepmother the vile Baroness Scratcher (most evil Tory in all the land) and horrible Snotty Stepbrothers Dave and Boris, she leads a miserable existence continually being forced to ‘fulfil her obligations to society’ by sweeping the floors and dry-cleaning the boys’ Bullingdon jackets. It’s definitely time for a Birkenstock-led revolution. 

But things are also pretty tough for Princess Charlotte, heir to the throne of the magical kingdom of Harmonia. If she isn’t married (to a man!) by her twenty-fifth birthday, she’ll disappoint her father, destabilise her kingdom and worst of all, destroy the entire Royal Wedding tea-towel-printing industry. Just what is a lesbian princess to do? 

Starring Lilka as Cinderella, Annalytica as Princess Charlotte and Sebastienne as the awful Baroness Scratcher, and introducing brand-new Lasher Cleopatra in her debut show, this feature-length panto features all-new writing, song, dance, comedy, romance and chaos.  

Will the Baroness (BOO!) succeed in her wicked plan to steal milk from all the kiddies in the land? Will Cinderella (HOORAY!) get to the ball on time? And who will become the only polyamorous panromantic genderqueer asexual ambidextrous weasel farmer in the South-East Midlands? (UM....?!?)

Join us at a performance to find out!

London - Friday 3 February, The Pirate Castle, Camden
Doors open from 8pm, show begins at 8.30pm. No food or drink for sale on-site - feel free to bring your own!

Oxford - Saturday 11 February, East Oxford Community Centre
Doors open from 7pm, with support acts (poetry, comedy and film).

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Accessibility and triggers info

Cinderella: A Queer Sort of Pantomime is suitable for audiences aged 12 and up: younger audience members are welcome at parental discretion. Please note that:
1. The performance depicts people in same-gender and poly relationships and shows mild consensual BDSM onstage.
2. There is no nudity: swearing is on a level commensurate with a 12A film rating.
3. The performance contains several instances of ‘slapstick’ violence/comedically-presented fight scenes.
4. It also contains depictions of physical and verbal domestic abuse, and verbal harassment of a misogynist, classist, homophobic, transphobic and gender-essentialist nature. All of these are condemned by the story.
5. Audience members can choose to sit in an ‘audience participation’ or ‘non audience participation’ area.
6a. The Oxford venue is accessible via a permanent ramp, and has a wheelchair-accessible toilet. We intend to gender-liberate the other toilets. There will always be "quiet space" available in the bar when the main hall is loud or crowded.
6b. The London venue is completely flat inside, with accessible and gender-liberated toilets. There are four steps, or a purpose-built lift, to access the performance space. Please let us know (feministburlesque@gmail.com) if you have any other access needs.
7. Printed lyric sheets will be available for people who have difficulty hearing sung words. If a copy of the entire script would be useful to you, please let us know.