Widow Twankey

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Widow Twankey is a character in the pantomime Aladdin.

She is a pantomime dame (i.e. played by a man) who runs a Chinese laundry in Peking, China. One of her sons, Aladdin, is the hero of the pantomime, while her other son, often named Wishy Washy (or Wishee Washee), just helps in the laundry.

She is not exactly pivotal in the plot (such as it is), but more a source of jokes and innuendo, mostly centred on items of underwear on the washing line.

The character has had a number of different names over the years. In 1813 she was Ching Mustapha, then followed Wee Ping, Chow Chow and Tan King the Widow Twankay in 1861 named after a popular brand of China tea. Occasionally the spelling of her name in the programme (but not the pronunciation on the stage) is varied to make it look more "Chinese" - e.g. "Tuang Kee".

The first Widow Twankey was played by James Rogers at the Strand Theatre in 1861. In 2004 and 2005, Sir Ian McKellen played the part of Widow Twankey at the Old Vic.