Why pantomime is the Christmas gift that keeps on giving
Sometimes friends look at me with sympathy when they ask if I'm on the annual panto patrol. But it's a great art form that creates a special bond between performers and audience " and helps keep many theatres in the blackBehind the scenes at Hackney Empire's panto " in picturesWhen Augustus Harris took over London's Drury Lane theatre in 1879, he embraced pantomime with gusto, understood its commercial potential and …