What else would you call “Britain’s first professional Jewish pantomime” but Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Pig? And where else would you set it but north London, at Hanukah? At the JW3 centre in London – an arts and community venue for “the Jewish, Jew-ish and Jew curious”, according to Will Galinsky, JW3’s programming director – the cast of the first professional stage production to merge two great traditions in Jewish storytelling and festive panto are gathered around a table sharing their experiences of both. And the crossover, it transpires, is richer and more obvious than one might first imagine.
Comedy, community, a fairytale quest and a flawed hero are “at the heart of every panto”, says the show’s writer, Nick Cassenbaum. “But I think it comes from [Judaism’s central text] the Talmud, too.” This is possibly the first time those two things have been linked, I suggest. “I think there’s something about the rhythms of Jewish storytelling that can feel cantorial. It’s the comedy and tragedy.”
