Panto joy: 'I can't wait to do it again next year'

We took our place in the front row of the Everyman Theatre for the last performance of the panto Red Riding Hood. It was Ricky’s first panto and Mum had planned it for us.

Diarmuid is part of CADA Performing Arts so he is very at home in the Everyman as a lot of his performances take place there.

The 60 shows of this panto run were directed by the great Catherine Mahon Buckley, who owns and runs CADA with her phenomenal team. I am not sure they will ever know how much CADA means to Diarmuid, and how much joy and purpose it brings him to attend every week and feel like he truly belongs.

The production of Red Riding Hood surpassed all my expectations for Ricky’s first panto.

His eyes widened as the stage burst into song, spectacle and colour for the opening number of One Short Day from the popular musical Wicked.

It immediately reminded me how much I love the concept of pantomime, the tropes, the nods to popular culture, the local accents, the political swipes, and the craic and banter.

Of course, there was great audience participation too, and Ricky just loved booing at Deco the Wolf, who was a big bad Dub, while trying to warn Granny - or Peggy as she wanted to be called - when she was in trouble.

We have come to make a habit of sitting in the front row of the theatre. As a disabled person, it works so well for me. I don’t need to move when someone needs to pass me by, there is ample room to be comfortable and just leave my wheelchair nearby.

It also means that Ricky could see perfectly and he was comfortable sitting between his granny and his Mum.

I love too when I have a place figured out and know we can manage well. The staff in the Everyman are always exceptionally helpful and conscious of making things as easy as possible for everyone.

An added bonus of being in the front row means we were very near the orchestra pit, so close that I could read the titles of the pages of the sheet music.

The leader and conductor was making a lot of the sound effects and reminding the cast of moves and marks. I love being able to observe those things, knowing the level of rehearsal and thought and consideration that goes into pulling it off.

It was great to hear live instruments in the pit because there have been years where it was all just backing tracks and I am thrilled when value is put on the great talent and skill of the musicians.

We have a great richness of that talent in Cork and I am delighted to see it celebrated.

The greatest joy of this panto was the comedy - the tongue-in-cheek humour that is inserted, especially for the grown-ups, like when there was a quip about the wolf going to work as head security guard in the new Dáil bike shed! Granny Peggy’s man-sized dog, ‘Pana’ who had dreams of being a superstar, was hilarious and also had us dancing to the hit song Hot to Go so often that it has been whirling in my head ever since.

The whole cast and crew were superb, the lead, Red, was probably one of the youngest on stage and she was so professional and was clearly having a blast. Her best friend Pip and Pip’s love interest Jack were all great.

Our favourite, I think, was Granny Peggy she had us in knots, and I can’t wait to do it all again next year!