Pantomime

24/1/14

This week was our annual visit to the panto. We used to go to the one at the local big theatre but their prices slowly went up and we swapped to going to a (slightly more amateur) one hosted at a local private school which some of our Brownies have been in in previous years -although not this year. I think it is actually better as it is a smaller venue so the atmosphere seems better. Either way, the girls always thoroughly enjoy themselves every year!

It is always a bit chaotic making sure we have all the girls before we go in, especially if another Brownie unit decided to go on the same night! We managed to get in without too many problems though and eventually got all the girls settled in the correct rows and seats! Brown Owl told them that, once it had started, they were not to make any noises with their sweet wrappers as most of them had bought sweets with them. A couple of them were getting bored because it hadn't started but then it did and they all shut up! The panto this year was Robin Hood and it was as good as it usually is! We had one or two girls who had to be told to sit down or be quiet once but it was on;y because they were excited!

The most chaos came during the interval... We had told the girls that they could bring money for ice cream or drinks if they wanted and most of them had done so. Almost all of them decided to get ice creams and I ended up being the one to supervise them. Most of them seem to understand the values of coins though so that wasn't the issue; it was more getting them to make a quick decision because there were other people in the queue too! And some of the girls had only come because their friend had and were just getting in the way... They did all eventually get their ice creams but then several of them decided that they actually needed the toilet too so the other Young Leader and I ended up looking after a mountain of ice creams and sweets while we waited for them. We finally got them all back in and sat down just before the second half began but then a couple of other girls decided that, actually, they wanted an ice cream too and tried to go out on their own to get some. Brown Owl stopped them on her way back through the door and got them to sit down again though because they had stopped selling ice cream by then. 

The second half was just as good as the first half, if not better. I enjoy the fact that they cater for adults and children in the way of jokes, although it does cause a slight issue if the girls ask why I'm laughing if they haven't understood it..! When we came to leave, we got all the girls to pick up their coats and sweet wrappers and took them all out into the foyer. I stood by the door and directed them towards the corner while Brown Owl and Snowy made sure they went home with the person they were supposed to. That was going fine until the other unit that was there decided that our idea was a good one and tried to congregate their girls in the same corner as us. Luckily we'd almost got rid of all our girls and grouped together a bit further over but it seemed a little inconsiderate of them.

All in all, a good night out and one that the girls enjoy as much as the adults!