ACT 1: PROLOGUE
Let me set the scene.
There is a country, many centuries past and miles away from the normality of our world. Where things make sense just Because. Where any problems reach a climax a couple of hours after they start and are neatly tied up in a ten minute long epilogue. Where people fall in love easily and forever. Where everybody lives Happily Ever After. That country used to be The Kingdom of Pantoland.
But those days are gone.
The thing about Pantomime is that there are certain rules. The goodies are good and the baddies are bad. Characters will stop the action whenever they want for a song, and argument of Oh Yes It Is Oh No It Isn't, a pie in the face or a completely unnecessary re-papering of the parlour. The Dame will enter each scene in a different outfit and show her bloomers on at least four different occasions. The girl will be a sweet natured, innocent flower prone to being captured and will be quickly saved by a plucky young chap who is hopelessly in love with her. And if the girl is common he will be a Prince, and if she is a Princess, he will be a commoner. And nobody will mention at their finale wedding either that it really shouldn't be the done thing for the heir to the throne to marry a member of the working classes or that the groom is obviously a leggy, flat chested girl in a waistcoat with her hair tied back. And there are never, ever any loose ends left by the time everybody makes the audience join in the last song. And why? Because that's Pantoland. That's part of the magic.
But one dark night, it all started to go horribly wrong. Something shifted the balance from good to evil. Nobody was on hand to save the day. A loose end was left untied and the world of Pantomime began to unravel.