Sir Ian McKellen has played wizards, mutants, kings and global cinema icons, but this Christmas, he’s taking on a role nobody had on their bingo card: Toto the dog. The 86-year-old actor will star (via pre-recorded video) in Wicked Witches – A Popular Panto!, a gloriously drag-heavy festive production running at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington.
The show, a chaotic, camp collision of Wicked and The Wizard of Oz, already made headlines when it announced another unexpected cameo: former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who appears on screen as the “Wizard of Oz-lington,” a wink to his long-held North Islington seat. As panto casting goes, this is the Avengers: Endgame of extremely niche British culture.
McKellen’s Toto is described as a “washed-up rock star dog with more bark than bite,” which the actor embraced with typical relish. “Having survived – just – my appearance in the film CATS, I am thrilled, relieved even, to now be offered the role of a dog – Toto no less,” he said. “I would be barking mad to refuse.”
Corbyn, meanwhile, said he’s joining to support the Pleasance’s 30th anniversary and champion local theatre, calling panto “a brilliant celebration of creativity” and “where the real wizardry happens.”
The live cast leans fully into the show’s queer, joyfully anarchic spirit. Drag performers Gigi Zahir/Crayola The Queen star as Wicked Witch “Adelphaba,” with Eleanor Burke/Apple Derrieres as Good Witch “Kelly Oz-Born.” Ro Suppa takes on Dorothy (Dor), alongside Lew Ray as Tin 2.0 and Nick MacDuff as Scarecrow.
Behind it all is writer-director Shane ShayShay Konno, who says the show’s message is all about celebrating difference, championing LGBTQ+ identities and giving kids genuinely joyful queer stories, and which all feels especially important in the current climate.
The production runs from 18 November to 31 December, with both family-friendly daytime shows and a more chaotic adults-only version in the evenings. Expect drag, glitter, political in-jokes, a dog with a rock god backstory, and the kind of casting twist that proves in British panto, truly anything can happen.
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