The Theatre (contd)

My first experience of the theatre was being taken by my big brother to the Pantomime at the South London Theatre near the Borough Market. We all queued at the Gallery door, having first bought a bag of peanuts (in their shells) to sustain us. When the doors opened it was a mad rush to the Box Office and then up what seemed like hundreds of stone steps to get a front seat.
Each Panto had a villain, a Fairy Godmother and a man dressed as an old woman, a Princess and a Principal Boy - a female bouncing around in tights. There was always a magnificent Transformation Scene with fairies and goblins appearing to fly across the stage. Once a black figure with a silver skeleton painted on his costume came on a wire right up to the front row of the Gallery. That was scary. We hissed the villain and cheered the hero and joined in the songs- the words of which were painted on a huge sheet hanging from the flies. What fun it all was! We left the floor knee deep in peanut shells and orange peel.