Mick Griffiths, Wakefield and Pontefract district Socialist Party
After 30 years of performing, Wakefield Labour Club’s socialist troupe The Red Shed Players’ latest panto is one of their most uproarious yet.
Bob Cratchett is sacked on Christmas Eve, and a visit to the food bank is necessary to put together a family Christmas dinner. Tiny Tim is outraged and demands that Scrooge and all the bosses should be sacked so that their profits can be redistributed.
Cratchett is a lifelong Tory voter and still thinks that his family is blessed. Mrs Cratchett is of the view that in these tough times looting stops being a crime and becomes a necessity. She joins a mob of food rioters in the local supermarket. In defiance of price rises they liberate some food, free of cost.
Bob Cratchett is visited by the spirits of Keir Hardie, a founding member of the parliamentary Labour Party (certainly dead), and Keir Starmer (either dead or doing a great impression!)
In essence, a full frontal attack on both capitalism and Starmerism.
Disgracefully, in some areas local right-wing labour bureaucrats have ordered members not to attend these shows even though they are all fundraises for various local worthy causes!
- Showing for the final time Sunday 22 January at Unity Hall, Nelson, Lancashire at 1pm
