Greenwich Theatre playwright: AI lacks the humour needed for a panto script

Actor and playwright Anthony Spargo has denied the suggestion that artificial intelligence could replicate the "soul" of a good pantomime script – at least for the time being.

Spargo, who left the Pantomime Awards 2025 with the gong for best script for his work on Greenwich Theatre’s Dick Whittington and His Cat, said he had tested the technology and found its attempt to create a pantomime lacking in "comedy bones".

Asked whether AI could easily mimic the beats of an art form often based on existing fairytales and folklore, Spargo said: "No. When certain AI devices came about, I had a go. And for want of a better word, [the result] was shit."

He said: "I told it: ’Write a comedy scene between these characters.’ It couldn’t do it. It can’t do it because it doesn’t have a heart, it doesn’t have a soul. And it doesn’t have comedy bones – you can’t teach a computer that yet, thankfully."

Spargo admitted it was possible that in "however many years" intelligent technology may be inventive enough to compete with writers, but said: "I don’t think we’re there. I don’t think we’ve got anything to worry about yet."

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