Craig Revel Horwood has described changes to the Sleeping Beauty kiss and other traditional pantomime conventions, saying modern productions are reworking material considered non-consensual or potentially offensive.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 61, will play the villain Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty at Bristol Hippodrome in December. He said some of the adjustments to the classic show had struck him as “a bit weird”, although he believed many had successfully modernised pantomime for today’s audiences.
In his production, Prince Charming and Princess Aurora will be shown falling in love earlier in the story, providing context for the moment he wakes her from her enchanted sleep.
“The love of her life comes in and kisses her – but the problem is, in the story, there’s no consent. It’s a non-consensual kiss nowadays,” Horwood said.
“So how are you going to tell the story where he comes and wakes her up after 100 years by kissing her if she can’t consent because she’s asleep?”
Horwood also said two characters traditionally presented as the villain’s “ugly daughters” would now simply be known as the sisters.
“I have two accomplices, my ugly daughters. But they’re not allowed to be called ugly anymore because no one is ugly,” he said. “And you can’t fat-shame anyone either. So, now they’re called the sisters. Yeah, it’s a bit weird, isn’t it?”
He said other familiar stories had also been altered, with the title Snow White and the Seven Dwarves changed to remove the reference to the dwarves.
The changes come amid wider efforts by theatres to reconsider potentially sensitive material in family entertainment. The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham issued a warning for its 2024 Aladdin pantomime, telling audiences that some jokes might be offensive and that the production could be loud.
The theatre also offered a “relaxed” performance for those who might be more sensitive to the show’s content.
It later removed a song from Mother Goose after complaints that lyrics about vegans could lead to bullying. The song included lines claiming that the “G” in vegan stood for “gassy”, while the “A” stood for either “anaemic” or “annoying”.
In a statement, the theatre said its pantomime was a live production that was “constantly being refined and improved”, adding that the creative team regularly assessed the performance to provide the best experience for audiences.
It said pantomime was a collaborative art form in which the audience played an important role, adding: “The relationship between our amazingly talented cast and the audience is what makes pantomime special and makes each and every performance a singular live event.”
An Aladdin production featuring an all-white cast and the lyric “come on down to our oriental town” was also condemned as racist.
