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.