The Christmas Pantomime colour lithograph bookcover, 1890

Pantomime (informally, panto), not to be confused with mime, refers to a theatrical genre, traditionally found in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Ireland, which is usually performed around the Christmas and New Year holiday season. Look up pantomime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Cover, Pantomime F. Warne & Co. ... Cover, Pantomime F. Warne & Co. ... Lithography is a method for printing on a smooth surface, as well as a method of manufacturing semiconductor and MEMS devices. ... For mime as an art form, see mime artist. ...

History

The style and content of modern pantomime has very clear and strong links with the Commedia dell'arte, a form of popular theatre that arose in Italy in the early middle ages, and which reached England by the 16th century. A "comedy of professional artists" travelling from province to province in Italy and then France, they improvised and told stories which told lessons to the crowd and changed the main character depending on where they were performing. The great clown Grimaldi transformed the format. Each story had the same fixed characters: the lovers, father, servants (one being crafty and the other stupid), etc. These roles/characters can be found in today's pantomimes. Commedia redirects here. ... Joseph Grimaldi or Iron Legs (December 18, 1779 - May 31, 1837), the most celebrated of English clowns, was born in London, the son of an Italian actor. ...

The gender role reversal resembles the old festival of Twelfth Night, a combination of Epiphany and midwinter feast, when it was customary for the natural order of things to be reversed. This tradition can be traced back to pre-Christian European festivals such as Samhain and Saturnalia. A bagpiper in Scottish military clan-uniform. ... Twelfth Night is a holiday in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany, concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas, and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day... This article is about the Christian feast. ... Look up Samhain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Saturnalia (disambiguation). ...

In Restoration England, a pantomime was considered a low form of opera, rather like the Commedia dell'arte but without Harlequin (rather like the French Vaudeville). In 1717, actor and manager John Rich introduced Harlequin to the British stage under the name of "Lun" (for "lunatic") and began performing wildly popular pantomimes. These pantomimes gradually became more topical and comic, often involving as many special theatrical effects as possible. Colley Cibber and his colleagues competed with Rich and produced their own pantomimes, and pantomime was a substantial (if decried) subgenre in Augustan drama. This form had virtually died out by the end of the 19th century. For other uses, see Restoration. ... For other uses, see Opera (disambiguation). ... Arlecchino (also known as Harlequin in English, Arlequin in French) is the most popular of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dellArte. ... This article is about the musical variety theatre. ... John Rich (1682 - 1761) was an important theater manager in 18th century London. ... Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, Poet Laureate, first British actor-manager, and head Dunce of Alexander Popes Dunciad. ... Augustan drama can refer to the dramas of Ancient Rome during the reign of Caesar Augustus, but it most commonly refers to the plays of Great Britain in the early 18th century, a subset of 18th-century Augustan literature. ...

Until the 20th century, British pantomimes were often concluded with a harlequinade, a free standing entertainment of slapstick. See also Commedia dellarte // The Harlequinade is a type of theatrical performance piece, usually a slapstick adaptation of the Commedia dellarte, which dates back to England in the mid 18th century. ...

Pantomime traditions and conventions

Traditionally performed at Christmas, with family audiences consisting mainly of children and parents, British pantomime is now a popular form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, in-jokes, audience participation and mild sexual innuendo. Plots are often loosely based on traditional children's stories, the most popular titles being: For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation). ...

• Aladdin (sometimes combined with Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and/or other Arabian Nights tales)
• Babes in the Wood (often combined with Robin Hood)
• Beauty and the Beast
• Cinderella, the most popular of all pantomimes and first shown in 1870 in Covent Garden, London
• Dick Whittington, first staged as a pantomime in 1814, based on a 17th century play.
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• Jack and the Beanstalk
• Mother Goose
• Peter Pan
• Puss in Boots
• Sleeping Beauty
• Snow White

The form has a number of conventions, some of which have changed or weakened a little over the years. For other uses, see Aladdin (disambiguation). ... The adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was added to the traditional collection of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights by its European transcriber, Antoine Galland, an 18th-century French orientalist who had heard it in oral form from a Maronite story-teller from Aleppo. ... Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to King Shahryar. ... Babes in the Wood is a traditional childrens tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. ... For other uses, see Robin Hood (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Beauty and the Beast (disambiguation). ... Gustave Dorés illustration for Cendrillon Cinderella (French: Cendrillon) is a popular fairy tale embodying a classic folk tale myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. ... Covent Garden is a district in London, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Dick Whittington is a character in British pantomime, very loosely based on the real-life Richard Whittington. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The Three Bears. ... Illustration by Arthur Rackham from a 1918 English Fairy Tales, by Flora Annie Steel Jack and the Beanstalk is an English fairy tale, closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant Killer. ... For other uses, see Mother Goose (disambiguation). ... This article is about the play by J.M. Barrie. ... Gustave Dor s 19th century engraving of le chat bott Puss in Boots is a European folktale collected by Charles Perrault in his Contes de ma m re lOye (Mother Goose Tales), and earlier in 1634, by Giambattista Basile as Gagliuso. ... Sir Edward Burne-Jones painted The Sleeping Beauty. ... This article is about the Snow White character. ...

• The leading male juvenile character (the "principal boy") - almost always played by a young woman.
• An older woman (the pantomime dame - often the hero's mother) is usually played by a man in drag.
• Risqué double entendre, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases. This is, in theory, over the heads of the children in the audience.
• Audience participation, including calls of "look behind you!" (or "he's behind you!"), and "Oh, yes it is!" or "Oh, no it isn't!" The audience is always encouraged to "Boo" the villain, and "Awwwww" the poor victims, such as the rejected dame, who usually fancies the prince.
• A song combining a well-known tune with re-written lyrics. The audience is encouraged to sing the song; often one half of the audience is challenged to sing "their" chorus louder than the other half.
• The pantomime horse or cow, played by two actors in a single costume, one as the head and front legs, the other as the body and back legs.
• The good fairy always enters from the right side of the stage and the evil villain enters from the left. In Commedia Dell 'Arte the right side of the stage symbolized Heaven and the left side symbolized Hell.
• The members of the cast throw out sweets to the children in the audience.
• Sometimes the story villain will squirt members of the audience with water guns.

In pantomime, the principal boy role is the young male protagonist of the play, traditionally played by a young actress in boys clothes. ... A pantomime dame is a traditional character in British Panto. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A double entendre is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. ... An audience is the/a group of people who participate in and experience or encounter a work of art, literature, theatre, music or academics in any medium. ... Parody of Star Wars: Episode 1 Parody music, or musical parody, involves changing or recycling existing musical ideas or lyrics - or copying the peculiar style of a composer or artist, or even a general style of music. ... A pantomime horse (there are also pantomime cows and other animals) is a theatrical representation of a horse or other ungulate by two actors in a single costume who cooperate and synchronize their movements. ...

Guest celebrity in pantomime

Another contemporary pantomime tradition is the celebrity guest star, a practice that dates back to the late 19th century, when Augustus Harris, proprietor of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, hired well-known variety artists for his pantomimes. Sir Augustus Henry Glossop Harris (1852-1896) was an actor, impresario, and dramatist. ... Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. ...

Until the decline of the British music hall tradition by the late 1950s, many popular artists played in pantomimes across the country. Many modern pantomimes use popular artists to promote the pantomime, and the play is often adapted to allow the star to showcase their well-known act, even when such a spot has little relation to the plot, for example, Rolf Harris might perform Jake the Peg in a pantomime about Aladdin. Music Hall is a form of British theatrical entertainment which reached its peak of popularity between 1850 and 1960. ... Rolf Harris, MBE (1968), OBE (1977), CBE (2006), AM (1989) (born 30 March 1930), is an Australian musician, composer, painter, and television host. ... Jake the Peg, back in the 1960s Jake the Peg was a fictional three-legged man, played by Rolf Harris in the 1960s. ...

Nowadays, a pantomime occasionally pulls off a coup by engaging a guest star with an unquestionable thespian reputation, as was the case with the Christmas 2004 production of Aladdin that featured Sir Ian McKellen as Widow Twankey, which he reprised in the 2005 production at the Old Vic theatre in London. Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CBE (born May 25, 1939) is an English stage and screen actor, the recipient of a Tony Award and two Oscar nominations. ... Widow Twankey is a character in the pantomime Aladdin. ... The exterior of the Old Vic from the corner of Baylis Road and Waterloo Road. ... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

As well as being an actor in the Shakespearean tradition, McKellen had become hugely famous with children as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and Magneto in X-Men. "At least we can tell our grandchildren that we saw McKellen's Twankey and it was huge," said Michael Billington, theatre critic of The Guardian, December 20, 2004, entering into the pantomime spirit of double entendre. In recent times, the in pantomimes have featured soap stars, comedians or former sportsmen rather as celebrity attractions, supplemented by jobbing actors and pantomime specialists. Shakespeare redirects here. ... For other uses, see Gandalf (disambiguation). ... This article is about the Peter Jackson films. ... Magneto (Eric Magnus Lensherr) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. ... The X-Men are a group of comic book superheroes featured in Marvel Comics. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For other uses, see Guardian. ... is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television...

York's Theatre Royal pantomine features no guest celebrities, but a regular cast headed by Berwick Kaler, who has played the dame there for 27 years. Berwick Kaler (born 1947) is a British actor most famous for playing the dame in the York Theatre Royals annual pantomime, which he also writes and directs. ...

Pantomime in Australia

Pantomimes in Australia at Christmas have also always been very popular, and professional productions often feature celebrities. During the 1950s, a Christmas Cinderella pantomime in Sydney featured Danny Kaye as Buttons. There are also radio pantomimes at Christmas which are featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. ... Kaye entertaining U.S. troops at Sasebo, Japan, 25 Oct 1945 David Daniel Kaminsky, known as Danny Kaye (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, singer and comedian. ... Buttons Buttons is the name of a character in a Cinderella pantomime. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ...

Pantomime in Canada

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (September 2007)

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

Pantomime in the United States

Pantomime, as described in this article is seldom performed in the United States of America. As a consequence, the word "pantomime" is more commonly understood to refer to the art of mime, as was practised by Marcel Marceau or Mummenschanz and is often assumed to be a solo performance seen as often on street corners as on stage. However, certain shows that came from the pantomime traditions, especially Peter Pan, are performed quite often and there are a few American theatre companies who produce traditional British-style pantomime as well as American adaptations of the form. For mime as an art form, see mime artist. ... Marcel Marceau (born Marcel Mangel) (March 22, 1923 – September 22, 2007) was a well-known mime artist, among the most popular representatives of this art form world-wide. ... Mummenschanz is a unique Swiss pantomime troupe who perform a surreal mask and prop oriented style. ... Look up mime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Busking with Beer Bottles in Sydney, Australia Busking is the practice of performing in public places to receive donations of money. ...

Pantomime in the United Kingdom

The Pantomime first arrived in England as entr'actes between opera pieces, eventually evolving into separate shows. The Lincoln's Inn Field Theatre and the Drury Lane Theatre were the first to stage pantomimes, creating high competition between them to create the more elaborate show. As manager of Drury Lane in the 1870s, Augustus Harris is now considered the father of modern pantomime. Entracte is French for between the acts. It can have the meaning of a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonym to intermission, but is more often used to indicate that part of a theatre production that is performed between acts as an intermezzo or interlude. ... Currently home to Lord Of The Rings, the musical. ... Sir Augustus Henry Glossop Harris (1852-1896) was an actor, impresario, and dramatist. ...

Many cities and provincial theatres now have an annual pantomime.

Pantomime is very popular with Amateur Dramatics societies throughout the UK, and the Pantomime season (roughly speaking, December to February) will see pantomime productions in many village halls and similar venues across the country. Amateur Dramatics is how Community Theater is referred to in the UK. Categories: Theatre stubs ...

External links

• MusicalTalk Podcast discussing British pantomime; its origins and traditions.
• The origins of pantomime stories
• The Magic of Pantomime
• Write a Brilliant Pantomime
• Pantomime In the 1940s & 1950s
• Pantomime economics of fifty years ago
• Pantomime Concepts & Workshops
• Chispa Mime info-Directory-workshops
• British Pantomime Performance (Millie Taylor)
• MusicalTalk podcast about pantomime