What's on in London: Wicked Witches
A popular panto starring Crayola.
If you're looking for a panto to bring some cheer to the festive season, then Wicked Witches is vying for your attention.
Inspired by all things Oz, this is a panto that is available in two varieties - the adult-only show or the all-ages show.
The story give us the tale that twenty years after Dorothy (Dor) first tumbled over the rainbow, a surprise snowstorm whisks them back to the Borough of Oz-lington, where they discover the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch are still feuding.
Audiences will see Dor join forces with Scarecrow, Lion, and the shiny new Tin 2.0, as they set out on an epic quest to stop the storm, defeat the witch, and save Christmas.
Cast
- The Wicked Witch ‘Adelphaba’ will be played by Gigi Zahir / Crayola The Queen
- The Good Witch 'Kelly Oz-Born' will be played by Eleanor Burke / Apple Derrieres
- Dorothy 'Dor' will be played by Rosanna Suppa
- Tin 2.0 will be played by Lew Ray
- Scarecrow will be played by Nick MacDuff
Crayola The Queen on How To Date Men
For our podcast, How To Date Men, we caught up with Crayola The Queen for a behind-the-scenes look at the show.
In the conversation, we talk battle-cries, dating drama, and knowing when to filter yourself.
You're playing the Wicked Witch - is this a dream role for you? What's your relationship like with the mythology of Oz?
As a queer person of colour, it resonated deeply with me while I was in high school.
We've just actually started our first day of rehearsals today. As part of the icebreaker, we were going around and sharing our first encounters with the Wizard of Oz or Wicked or the world of the show. And I remember being in lunch and two of the girls in theatre were like belting out this song that I've never heard before. And I was like, what in the divaliciousness is going on over here? And it was Defying Gravity - Wicked was definitely one of the formative musicals for me while I was in high school. And here we are now.
Is the panto tradition something that you've embraced as part of your festive season?
Panto is not necessarily something I grew up with, but it is something that I've been doing for the last couple of years - I've done panto at Stratford East, I've done it at Above the Stag years - I've got some pantos under my belt.
Do you have any theories as to why panto is such an enduring holiday time tradition in the UK?
Britain culturally is kind of known for its comedy, isn't it? It's born out of Vaudeville and music hall - I personally love it. It's fun and funny, and we kind of need it, don't we? It gets cold and dark here, and actors need employment. Panto season is definitely the time where it seems like the whole industry seems to be pretty well employed.
One of the features of this production is that you're performing two different versions - there's a family-friendly version and an adults-only version. Are you worried about mixing up your audiences and getting the jokes wrong?
Yes! We were doing the first read-through today and we decided to focus on the family-friendly version. Straight off the bat, during the "no he isn't, yes he is" stuff, I was like - "shut the fuck up!"
But I trust myself. The last two pantos I've done have been family-friendly ones. I do a lot of corporate stuff. I know how to filter myself.
There's always room for slip-ups because it is chaos, right? I think that's the joy of panto - it is a kind of controlled chaos.
The second installment of the film adaptation of Wicked hits the screen soon after you open. How up-to-date with their Wicked references do audiences need to be in order to be able to enjoy your show?
Pantos are always in a little bit of flux and always kind of organic. One of my favorite things about doing panto is when you're in the shower and you're dreaming up - thinking about the topical things that we could absorb into it.
This show isn't just about Wicked or Wizard of Oz references. We've got K-pop Demon Hunters. We've got lots of stuff for everyone who is chronically online. Lots of memes. You don't have to be into Wicked to appreciate what we're bringing to the table.
Wicked Witches runs through until the end of the year. Have you thought much beyond that? What's on the 2026 vision-board for Crayola?
I have a show that I did earlier this year - that's coming back to the Pleasance in the summer. It's called Acid's Rain - which is also about a witchy person obsessed with green.
I've also got some projects that I'm working on myself. I've been working on a solo show for me to do out of drag - it's all about my dating life in 2023.
Why 2023 specifically?
That was the year I started taking PrEP.
I wasn't allowing myself to date and be vulnerable and expose myself before then - not as much as I would then go on to do in 2023 once I started taking PrEP.
I definitely had a very eventful year. And I realised very quickly that some wild things were happening and I was witnessing some wild things on the apps and in the dating stories that were happening. So I just started writing everything down. I'm hoping to continue developing that.
What do hope that people feel when they come and see Wicked Witches: A Popular Panto?
It depends on which version!
With the family-friendly version, I hope people leave feeling really good and inspired. I feel like Panto is such a great way to inspire young people - it could be their first experience of theatre. I hope that it inspires what will hopefully be a lifetime of theatre-going.
For the adult version, I hope that they have a great time, a great night out and are maybe even a little scandalised at points.
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