Wicked Witches Review – A Popular Panto, The Pleasance, 21 November – 28 December 2025

“An expertly crafted, super current panto.” ★★★★

Good panto has to walk the line between wildly fun incoherence, non sequitur and nonsense, and not actually letting it all become pointless, random, and boring. Wicked Witches definitely achieves that. This is an expertly crafted, super current panto that's both steadfastly traditional, with all the great hallmarks of that brilliantly bizarre British classic of theatre, while also being packed full of contemporary references and on-trend punchlines. It's a great celebration of this wonderfully silly tradition that brings out the kid in us all at Christmas.

As you’ve probably already guessed, Wicked Witches is a fun and colorful riff on Wicked and The Wizard of Oz. Taking place twenty years after Dorothy’s first expedition to that magical land, a sudden snowstorm blows her back to the borough of Oz‑lington, where a mysterious, bubbly force is threatening its very existence. Reuniting with some familiar faces, the now non-binary Dor embarks on a hilarious adventure through Oz-lington, filled with pop‑song parodies and high‑energy hilarity.

While I'm not personally a great fan of pieces that encourage echo-chamber audiences whose self-satisfied jeers and yaaaasses only serve the cult-like meme-ification of the queer experience, I also don't want to over-intellectualise what is essentially a harmless piece of fun. So maybe I just need to lighten up. Either way, a lot of people will enjoy it, and I do actually think the family version will be really great fun for kids (you can choose between an Adults Only performance, which will be perfect for a night out with your mates, or the regular family one, which will be perfect for everyone).

Be prepared for a barrage of pop cultural references though that can ironically make you feel a lot like an outsider for a show that preaches unconditional inclusion. You kind of have to enjoy a lot of niche slang, corrupted Polari, and an addiction to the internet. But that said, that didn't stop me from laughing. It is genuinely very funny.

I do think overall it suffers from being a bit overly moralistic for a form of entertainment that should be raucous and bawdy. It veers more than once into the political (often rather cleverly, it must be said) and though it mostly avoids smugness and superiority, there's nothing particularly clever or persuasive about preaching to the converted target market.

The make-up design by Yong-Chin Breslin and costumes by Isabella Van Braeckel and Cieranne Kennedy-Bell are excellent, suitably campy, and stand-up to any big budget version. The performances, too, are delivered with unrestrained gusto. But a special mention should be given for Gigi Zahir as the Wicked Witch, Adelephaba Dazeem, and Ro Suppa as Dor, both of whom are far and away the most spectacularly hilarious, surprisingly warm, and naturally charismatic. They both stand out for their innate talent for unashamed and unselfconsciously joyful panto play. I'd watch them again in a heartbeat, although it should be said that Eleanor Burke’s skit as the Good Witch about her bubble technology is performed with such mad vitality that it still has me laughing days later.

For a real good stocking filler (pun intended – it is panto after all), some well-received pre-recorded cameos from Jeremy Corbyn MP as the Wizard and Sir Ian McKellan as Toto are a great touch of sparkle and a hilarious treat. McKellan in particular is somehow reliably fantastic and fully-committed to the part, even though it must have taken only a matter of minutes to record.

At its heart, this genuinely funny and engaging panto does have a consistent and coherent message, unlike most pantos, which are random for random’s sake. So, all things considered, does that mean it’s something pretty special? Oh yes it is!

Wicked Witches – A Popular Panto

Written & Directed by Shane ShayShay Konno

The Pleasance, 21 November – 28 December 2025

Box Office: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/wicked-witches-popular-panto

Photography: Emma Carman Dale

Review by Alix Owen