Pantomime is a peculiarly British form of entertainment. Oh, no it isn’t! Oh, yes, it is! And yet it has some of its roots in Italian Commedia dell’arte and the Harlequinade. In the 17th century adaptations of the Commedia characters became familiar in English entertainments; the eloping lovers Harlequin and Columbine, pursued by the girl’s father, Pantaloon, and his comic servants, Clown and Pierrot. The convention that the hero enters (stage) right and the villain enters (stage) left dates from this time, as right represented Heaven and left, Hell. The basic plot of the harlequinade remained essentially the same for more than 150 years, except that a bumbling policeman was added to the chase.
But that need not worry us. True panto was born at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London in 1773 (year, not hours) with “Jack the Giant Killer”. With the arrival of the great Joseph Grimaldi in the early 1800’s, the Clown took over from Harlequin as the central character and added slapstick and acrobatics to the mix. At the same time, the Fairy Godmother came into the story to manage the transformation scene and the “Happy Ever After”.
The tradition of the Principal Boy being played by a girl in tights was also Victorian; a way for men to be able to see a girl’s legs! Still no Dame yet, though. He/she arrived later that century with the likes of Dan Leno, and never, ever does anything wicked. Throwing sweets to children is not wicked.
Story next: this is usually based on an old fairy tale, and rarely anything to do with Christmas, but it is no moral tale. In fact, the likes of Aladdin and Jack are the heroes and win their Princesses in the end but are both thieves and trespassers really.
Now we are nearly there. Just a few minor points left, which were all in place by the mid 1900s. Such as the Pantomime cow, or horse, or camel, or whatever; a really nasty villain (Hello, Captain Hook) who loses; the brokers men (doing the slapstick still); and the comic to keep the show moving (Welcome, Buttons). So, there they all are, waiting in the wings ….
All together now – They’re behind you!!!!
