When the holiday season draws near, children in the British Isles — and now Farmville — look forward to Christmas pantomimes.

Mary Jo Stockton, director of this year’s Farmville pantomime Dec. 4-5 and 11-12, brought the tradition from Scotland.

“I grew up in Scotland,” she said. “That’s what you did every Christmas — you went to the panto. If you were really lucky you got to go to more than one — with your school, with mom and dad — and maybe auntie would take you.”

Ten years ago with encouragement from Stockton, the Waterworks Players presented its first holiday pantomime.

“Mary Jo argued with me about it for at least two years,” Waterworks founder and longtime director Dudley Sauvé said. “I didn’t understand it. Finally she said,’ let’s give it a try’ — and we did!”

“Pantomimes are melodramatic presentations of familiar nursery rhymes or children’s tales that combine song, dance and slapstick comedy,” Stockton said.   “You get the story with a twist.”

Stockton encouraged the local community theatre group to give the pantomimes she remembered so fondly as a child a chance.

“Pantomimes were in every theatre in Scotland — from little community theatres like ours to the big theatres,” she said. “The big stars that you’d see on television every week, they were in the pantos.”

Dudley became a pantomime fan after the Waterworks’ first performance of “Puss in Boots” in 2005.

“Jordan Wiley was doing a woman’s part — that’s always part of the show — and some little kid got right up on the stage, took Jordan by the hand, turned him around and said, ‘Go that way,’” Suave said. “I thought to myself — This is it! The kids are really getting into this show.”

“The pantos are influenced a lot by British humor,” Stockton said. “We’re a bit more comfortable with men in dresses, I think.”

Other pantomimes followed “Puss in Boots” in 2005: “Aladdin,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Snow White,” “Hansel & Gretel,” “Rumpelstilskin,” “Treasure Island” and “Cinderella.”

From the very first performance, Stockton noted, Farmville audiences knew they were to participate — and they did so with enthusiasm.

“I thought we might need ‘plants’ in the audience for that first show, but the kids just seemed to know what to do,” she said.

Stockton likes pantomimes because they are a more relaxed form of theatre.

“Parents don’t have to be anxious when they bring small children to this show,” she said. “They can go, enjoy the show and live in that moment of being a little kid.”

The cast of this year’s production, in fact, includes 13 children ages 7 to 15.

“This year we have two kids in the crew behind the scenes as well,” Stockton said.

This marks the fourth year Stockton has directed the annual pantomime.

“It just seemed natural to have her do it,” Sauvé said.

“We get the scripts from Britain,” Stockton said. “This year I happened to chance upon one that had Star Wars in it — I’m a huge Star Wars fan.”

This year’s pantomime, “May the Farce Be with You,” opens with Garth Invader seeking galactic domination and Luke Warmwater, a space-warrior who is forced to take refuge in a garden with a very large beanstalk. Space adventure segues into fairy tale when Jack, forced by his mother Nellie, sells the family cow, Demi Moooer, for a handful of “magic beans.”

“Even though we have a script, there’s the ability to improvise,” Stockton said of the actors. “It’s almost like someone says, ‘You are this — now play act.’”

Audience participation, Stockton added, adds to the fun.

“The audience is as much a part of the cast in these shows as the cast is,” Stockton said. “The cast is really just there to lead them on the journey.”

Sold-out performances for every Waterworks pantomime indicate that Farmville audiences are definitely along for the ride.

“There are so few places in the United States where you can come and see a pantomime,” Stockton said. “It’s something unique to Farmville.”

It is, in other words, a tradition that has arrived.