In pantomimes as in life, length is an important consideration (you lot at the back, out!).
Too long, and your audience drift off and lose concentration. Especially in the Netflix age. Too short, and they feel short changed having paid a full ticket price.
With 90minute shows becoming more and more common in the West End, the ability to see a show and be back home in time for bed time is a tantalising thought.
But pantomimes up and down the country remain resolutely two-act for the most part. So how long should your pantomime be?
The perfect length for family pantomimes
If your pantomime is aimed at families with young children, my feeling is that you need to aim for between 2hrs 15ms and 2hrs 30mins including a 20minute interval.
That works out at roughly 60-75mins for Act One, and 45-60mins for Act Two. If your pantomime is longer than that, it’s likely you’re suffering from one of the problems detailed below.
On the shorter side of that spectrum you’ll find audiences more engaged, more likely to laugh and crucially more likely to return next year and tell their friends to book tickets!
What to do if your show is too long
If you find your show is longer than you’d prefer it to be, there are several key areas you can focus on:
- Delivery Pace – the number one reason for a lengthy production is the pace at which lines are delivered. This comes with a note of caution, as speed must never sacrifice clarity. However keeping a good positive rhythm ensures things tick along nicely.
- Picking up Cues – the second most common reason for a production that outstays its welcome is the slow picking up of cues. In other words, the gaps between lines. Speed-runs can help with this where actors sit opposite each other and recite the whole script concentrating on getting the pick ups to be as short as possible.
- Song length – My ideal pantomime song structure is: verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. Any longer and you’re probably outstaying your welcome. Keep it brief and your audience will thank you. It also saves on rehearsal time(!)
- Song tempo – Often I find that the tempo which songs are originally released at is too slow for a modern pantomime audience. Songs should be upbeat and full of energy and drive, which often means increasing the tempo so it feels more of a canter than a trot. Though never a gallop!
- Timings – have you checked whether you’re going up later than the advertised start time? Liasing with Front of House teams can ensure audiences are in their seats ready to go at the top of the show. You should also keep an eye on interval timings too. A tight 20minute interval is long enough for any production. Any longer and you risk over running later on.
- Ad-libs – A core part of any pantomime is the odd aside or ‘ad lib’. However in some productions these can spiral into full-on tangents which add lots of time and often loses the audience. Agree set points of ad-libs and keep an eye on their length.
- Additional material – one of the key selling points of my pantomime scripts is that I offer some licence agreements with complete customisability including adding additional material. My original script is the appropriate length to run to time, so if you add material you need to cut the same amount of existing material to ensure the running time stays the same.
If you’re on top of things, running times should come in well under the maximum 2hrs 30mins I recommend. An early rehearsal room run will always give you a good barometer to show you where any work needs doing. As long as you remember to allow time for applause which always adds around 5mins running time per act.
Next time you’re running over, check back to this list and see if anything jumps out as a solution you can implement.
