Tonight is the final night of the panto. It is really quite amazing that the theatre club was able to put on one this year. There was hardly one rehearsal when someone couldn't make it due to lack of fuel or transport. As is often the case, the show has got better over time. Tonight, the cast is in high spirits and they are wonderfully relaxed and confident. The audience is much bigger than last week, although it is still not a full house. There is much booing and hissing and calls of 'Behind you!' and 'Oh, yes, you are!' and 'Oh, no, I'm not!'.
When we come out of the theatre at the end, I notice the Christmas lights are on all the way down past the park and the Groovy Cab, a trailer pulled by a tractor, that is run by Round Table is taking children for a ride. There is a very different vibe in the air this evening. You have to take your hat off to all the people who try to make Christmas 'normal'.
We stay for the after-party. I talk to a member of the chorus who is in his 80s. He has a scrapbook of all the shows he has been in since he moved to Bulawayo in 1960. Apart from one show, he has not had a speaking part of more than one line.
'Did you ever see Show Boat?' he asks.
'No,' I say. 'What year was that?'
'1962.'
This is not a compliment.
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