Christmas may seem a long way off, but such is the popularity of pantomime, the best seats could have already disappeared in a puff of fairy dust, writes Kate McLelland
Pantomime is a British tradition that’s guaranteed to mystify anyone who is unfamiliar with our culture. The name itself creates confusion: when US-based Baywatch actor Pamela Anderson received her first offer to appear in pantomime in Liverpool in 2010, she was convinced she would be “miming in a box” (bizarrely, she agreed to do it anyway).
Like most traditions, pantomime has grown from customs and practices that have been transformed over time by changing tastes and fashions.
There’s nothing like a Dame
One of pantomime’s best-loved characters is the Dame. Nearly always played by a man, the Dame is generally portrayed as a vain, foolish woman, determined to get a husband at any price. But, with the possible exception of the villainous Ugly Sisters in Cinderella, the Dame never fails to gain the audience’s affection. It seems that we Brits simply love the idea of a man acting out a female role.
Maybe that’s because the practice of men appearing as women on stage is deeply embedded in British culture. Until the law was changed in the early 1660s, it was illegal for women to act in theatres, so audiences were used to seeing men performing in female attire.
Copying Commedia
Commedia dell’arte was a broad type of comic performance popular in Italy between the 16th and 18th centuries, which is said to be the forerunner of our traditional pantomime. Based on ‘stock’ characters, the plots generally featured a pair of lovers, a mischievous servant, a clown or Pierrot character and a money-grabbing old man. While pantomime’s young lovers have changed little from Commedia dell’arte days, some of the other characters have been reworked to fit different plots. The clown is still with us in the shape of daft but lovable Simple Simon or Wishee Washee, while Cinderella’s footman Buttons is a pale reflection of the Commedia’s high-spirited servants. Finally, the stock character of the old man appears variously as the foolish Baron Hardup (Cinderella), the villainous Fleshcreep (Jack and the Beanstalk) and the power-hungry Abanazar (Aladdin).
Harlequinade to pantomime
In the 17th century, British theatre borrowed some of Commedia’s characters to create an early type of pantomime known as a Harlequinade. But pantomime as we know it today was created when audiences began to demand more and more spectacle. Canny theatre producers discarded the less popular parts of the Harlequinade but kept the transformation scene, where Harlequin waved his magic baton (nowadays a fairy wand) to show fairytale characters and scenes dramatically changing before the audience’s eyes. By the Victorian era the Harlequinade had become the two-act pantomime we would recognise today.
So pantomime goes on, changing year on year to suit current tastes, but in many respects remaining true to its earliest origins. It’s the one theatre entertainment that can successfully play to an audience aged between two and ninety-two, but will it continue to do so for centuries to come? Oh, yes it will!