Wicked Witches Panto

The Pleasance

Playing until 22nd December 2025

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Photo credit: Ella Carmen Dale

{PR Gifted ticket}

A small screen resembling a smartphone projects a video of Sir Ian Mckellen dressed as Toto the dog, growling and panting as he throws shade at James Corden before name-dropping his canine pals ‘Chappell Bone’ and ‘Sabrina Barkenter’. No, this isn’t a cranberry and Wensleydale-induced festive fever dream — it’s panto, obviously.

As a genre, pantomime is quite reliant on celebrity co-stars to shift tickets, and Wicked Witches at The Pleasance certainly got the memo. Not only does Sir Ian make a delightfully bonkers appearance, but Jeremy Corbyn even joins in the fun as the ‘Wizard of Oz-lington’. While the acting talents of the pair obviously cannot quite be compared (perhaps stick to the day job Jez), Corbyn’s appearance — and fun-poking at his struggles setting up Your Party — goes down a treat with the audience.

The greatest strength of Wicked Witches, written and directed by Shane Shayshay Konno, is its deep understanding and appreciation of its target audience, which is predominantly LGBTQ+ theatregoers and pop culture obsessives. While the “nothing beats a Jet2 holiday” meme is likely to be featured in many a panto this year, the more niche references — Katseye’s ‘Gnarly’ dance, the ‘Here Comes The Hurricane’ song, and the infamous “go back to Party City” argument from RuPaul’s Drag Race, to name just three — set Wicked Witches apart from the rest.

Everyone knows that plot takes a backseat in most pantos, and Wicked Witches definitely doesn’t stray from tradition there. At the centre of the story is Dor (Ro Suppa), a post-top surgery non-binary Dorothy — or rather, Dorothey — who’s been swept back into Oz-lington by a great wind (cue the fart jokes) and now has to find their way home once more amid a deadly blizzard. Suppa is a joy to watch, getting stuck into the silliness of the material and showing a great talent for riffing with the audience.

Joining Dor on their adventure is Tin 2.0 (a fun and feisty Lew Ray), new and improved with breastplates and a fresh paint job. The pair venture off to the Emerald City, where we also meet the titular witches. First up, the Wicked Witch: Adelpaba Dazeem — Adele for short, which nicely sets up plenty of gags featuring her lyrics. Gigi Zahir is fabulous in the role, showing off some great vocal talents and playing up to the ‘boos’ from the audience while giving us a lot of laughs.

As her goodly counterpart, Eleanor Burke is the perfect “prissy princess” (nicknamed Kelly, because she’s “Oz-born”), trilling her way through jokes about her bubble-powered empire. Initially appearing to be the picture of kindness, Kelly transforms into the villain in Act Two after coming up with a Trumpian plan to build a “yellow brick wall”. At her side is the sweet but dim Scarecrow (Nick Macduff, also making a brief cameo as the Lion), whose bumbling brainlessness exudes charm.

Wicked Witches delivers on plenty of classic panto tropes: audience call-and-response, a hilariously infuriating chase sequence, and a shoehorned-in mega pop hit from the past year (KPop Demon Hunters’s Golden, naturally). Some of the longer set pieces, such as a pun-laden bit about coloured balls and a bubble fight, stall momentum slightly; this cast is at their best when they’re selling Konno’s wittiest jokes and getting stuck into the back-and-forth with the audience.

Oz-lington is brought to life in true technicolour. The costumes and makeup are delightfully sparkly, from Dor’s Western-inspired get-up to Kelly’s suitably gigantic pink frock, while the vibrant and somewhat rough-round-the-edges set adds an extra layer of charm.

In this ‘adults only’ version of Wicked Witches, expect plenty of jokes about balls, ‘poofs’ of air, and scissoring. But I feel confident in saying the kid-friendly edition would be just as entertaining — this cast really knows how to sell the script and get the audience involved.

If you’re looking for a super-slick, big budget panto with all the trimmings, go to the Palladium. But if you’re looking for a brilliantly camp evening of entertainment and a right good laugh — well, there’s no place like The Pleasance.

Creatives

Writer and Director: Shane Shayshay Konno

Dramaturg: Niall Moorjani

Set and Co-costume Designer: Isabella Van Braeckel

Co-costume Designer and Costume Supervisor: Cieranne Kennedy-Bell