Pantomime History, Traditions and Superstitions

The idea of ​​pantomime originated in ancient Greece and was later popularized during the reign of Augustus in ancient Rome. The name is taken from a masked dancer named Pantomimus, and the comedy and tragedy content of modern pantomime has clear links to the Commedia dell’Arte which began in Italy in the Middle Ages and came to England in the mid-17th century when the Commedia dell’Arte characters first began to appear in English-language plays.

Commedia dell’Arte touring companies were often made up of family members who usually improvised their way through a plot involving the likes of Arlecchino (or Harlequin) and his true love, Columbina (or Columbine). Other standard characters included the overprotective father, Pantaloon, who refused to allow the heroic Harlequin to seek his daughter’s affections. In some versions, Pantaloon has a servant, Pulchinello, later known as Clown. These characters varied depending on who the actors were amusing, but the great clown Grimaldi eventually transformed the format so that each story had the same characters that can still be found in pantomimes today.

It was during the reign of Queen Victoria in the 19th century that the English pantomime became closely associated with the Christmas tradition and was considered a delight for children.

Now traditionally performed at Christmas for family audiences, British pantomime is now a popular form of theater featuring song, dance, comedy, slapstick, audience participation, and mild sexual innuendo. The plots are often loosely based on traditional children’s stories, with the most popular titles being:

o Aladdin (often conflated with Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves)
o Babes in the Wood (often conflated with Robin Hood)
or Beauty and the Beast
o Cinderella, the most popular of all pantomimes
or Dick Whittington, which is based on a 17th-century play.
o Goldilocks and the Three Bears
or Jack and the Beanstalk
or mother goose
Peter Pan
or Puss in Boots
or Sleeping Beauty
or Snow White

Panto has a number of traditions and superstitions, most of which have been maintained over the years:

o The main male youth character is the main boy and is almost always played by a woman who usually wears short shorts, tight skirts accompanied by knee-high leather boots and fishnet stockings. In the past, when ladies covered their legs in ankle-length garments, this provided a great opportunity to show off a shapely pair of legs and make the panto appeal to a male audience.
o The lady in the pantomime is usually played by a man. This dates back to the Victorian Music Halls when audiences loved to see well-known comedians playing the role of Jack’s mother, Sarah the Cook in Dick Whittington or Window Twankey in Aladdin. Female comedians were virtually unknown back then and the tradition has carried on ever since.
o There is a lot of audience participation with shouts of “he’s after you!” and “oh yes it is!” or “Oh no, it’s not!” The audience is always encouraged to “boo” the villain.
o There is usually a song sheet towards the end of the panto when half of the audience is challenged to sing “their” chorus louder than the other half. Cast members throw candy at children in the audience and often ask audience members to come on stage. These scenes are often used as filler to give the cast time to change into their costumes.
o The good fairy always enters from the right side of the stage and the evil villain enters from the left side. This stems from Commedia dell’Arte when the right side of the stage symbolized Heaven and the left side symbolized Hell.
o In pantomime the last lines spoken in the finale; (traditionally in rhyming couplets) should never be pronounced in rehearsal as this is considered very bad luck. They are pronounced for the first time on opening night.
o The last performers to appear on stage at the promenade or finale are traditionally the leading boy and girl, who are usually married at the end of the show.
o It is considered very unlucky to have real flowers on stage, unless they are delivered by the leading lady during the curtain call.
o Whistling in a dressing room is a bad omen and if you are caught doing this you have to leave the room, walk around three times, knock on the door and go back in, usually with a curse.

Hopefully the tradition will continue for years to come, but the genre is in jeopardy due to the modern threat of political correctness, as some theaters think men dressed as women are demeaning.

Pantomimes, too, follow the movie industry and cash in on merchandising by pressuring parents to buy panto badges, the fairy’s tiara or the devil’s mask that are sold in the lobby at often highly inflated prices.

Fortunately, there are still plenty of regional production theaters and dedicated artists ready to put on two shows a day over the Christmas and New Years period. Some of the UK’s top acts this year include Brian Conley as Buttons in Cinderella at the Cliffs Pavilion Southend: Shane Richie as Aladdin at the Wycombe Swan Theatre; Joe Pasquale and Ray Quinn in Sleeping Beauty at Birmingham Hippodrome; John Barrowman in Robin Hood at the New Theater Cardiff: Paul Nicholas playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Hull New Theater and Craig Revell Horwood of Strictly Come Dancing playing the Evil Queen in Llandudno.