For many people, Christmas in America can mean taking in a performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” or Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

As an Englishman, Neil Pankhurst finds this rather curious.

“I don’t want to see either one every single year,” said Pankhurst, a writer and director at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Meredith. “People seem to want to do that. I’ve never understood it.”

Growing up, panto was the theater Pankhurst took in every year during holiday time, and he’s brought that tradition to the playhouse each year since 2014.

This year, the theater offers “Jack and the Beanstalk: A traditional English panto,” Pankhurst’s adaptation of the traditional fairy tale.

The show opens Friday, Dec. 19, and runs through Thursday, Jan. 1.

What’s a panto?

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