Inside Brick Lane Music Hall’s 2026 Panto with Writer-Director Lucy Hayes

From rude fairy tales to gloriously silly chaos, Brick Lane Music Hall’s pantomimes have built a loyal following for their unapologetically grown-up take on the form. Writer and director Lucy Hayes is back for 2026 with Jack and His Giant Stalk — a camp, farcical reimagining of the classic story that leans hard into audience complicity, joyful disorder and the anarchic spirit of British Music Hall. Following last year’s Pinocchio and His Wooden Whopper, Lucy talks to us about writing panto in controlled chaos, reinventing the giant, and why trusting rehearsals is just as important as trusting the script.

Hi Lucy! This is your second panto at Brick Lane Music Hall following Pinocchio and His Wooden Whopper. What did you learn from last year’s production that shaped this new one?

I learnt so much from last year! The process of taking a script from page to stage is always so revealing to me, and I think particularly with panto, it’s such a fine balance between plot, the comedy and sketches, and outright joyful chaos. It really relies on bringing the audience in and celebrating the liveness and campness of the whole thing, and as a writer, that’s really hard to anticipate when you’re writing the script! I’ve learnt to be much more economic with the scenes and trust that a lot of the panto magic will come about in rehearsals.

Jack and His Giant Stalk blends the classic pantomime conventions we all know and love with some very contemporary twists. What was your jumping-off point for reinventing this particular story?

I think one of the biggest creative invitations in Jack and the Beanstalk is how you’re going to do the giant - it’s not common to have a character in a panto who makes their first appearance in the second half. As an audience member myself, when I think I know a story, I always want to be surprised, and have elements re-invented so a story continues to feel fresh and relevant. Working out how we would do the giant felt like the gateway for thinking about what our twist on it could be.

The show has a truly farcical ensemble of characters. When you’re writing panto, do characters come first or gags come first?

I’d say for me it’s the characters - and the actors who I know are playing them. Developing fun, quirky characters that I know the actors will love playing allows me to find a lot of humour. That being said, I do have a note on my phone which I collect gags on throughout the year, and then the fun is trying to fit them in to the script as seamlessly as I can.

You wrote and directed Bitter Lemons which went from Edinburgh Fringe to a London transfer and received major critical praise. How has that success influenced your confidence or approach as a writer-director?

I think the point at which you ‘finish’ a script is really the point at which you are ready to get it into rehearsals. It doesn’t necessarily have to be ‘done’ because there is still a creative process for it to go through before it meets an audience. However I think the temptation as a writer, and certainly was the case for me with Bitter Lemons, is to believe that it can be ‘done’ on the page. I think I’m just constantly trying to let go of that need for control, and every experience helps a little bit with that.

Do you see yourself as a writer who directs, a director who writes, or something more hybrid and fluid?

Both probably, depending on the day! I enjoy the challenges of both and hope to be able to keep doing them for a very long time.

If you had to sum up Jack and His Giant Stalk in three words, what would they be?

Camp, silly, joyful. 

Brick Lane Music Hall’s Pantomime ‘Jack and His Giant Stalk’ opens on 22nd January and runs until the 7th March 2026. Tickets include either an afternoon tea or a three-course lunch or dinner, depending on the performance time. 

For tickets and more information, visit: https://www.bricklanemusichall.co.uk/shows/pantomime/ .