Welcome dear friends back to the Hypnogoria Old-time Yuletide Advent Calendar! It’s time to open Door 17 where P stands for Pantomime!
Oh no, it doesn’t! Oh yes it does!
Allow me to explain! Now the word “pantomime” originates with ancient Rome, being the name of a particular type of dramatic entertainment where a masked dancer mimed out a tale while a singer told the story in song. However the origins of this very British Christmas theatrical tradition really begins somewhere in mediaeval times, with the mummers plays we mentioned yesterday.
Now mummers plays are usually performed over the Christmas season, although some take place on other notable folkloric dates such as Halloween, Bonfire night and New Year. They are short, knockabout affairs, performed in the open air, or pubs, and sometimes going from house to house. They feature simple archetypal characters and often a lot of slapstick humour. The hero is a figure such as St George, Robin Hood or sometimes Father Christmas, who will fight a villain, a Dragon, the Black Prince or a Turkish Knight. Supporting characters include a Quack Doctor, who will raise our hero back to life, The Devil, Doubt, and Father Christmas, who fulfil other roles such as narrator, comic relief, or going among the audience to collect money.
Now these plays, which are still performed today, were often a bit of a rambunctious affair. And hence in the 17th century there were laws forbidding their performance, but in their place was a more refined version called the masque. Now these little productions featured music and drama, and like the mumming plays often featured similar mythological tales and archetypal characters. Again they were often performed at Christmas, and the figure of Old Father Christmas appears in several. But rather than being rustic street theatre performed by local amateurs for the amusement of their fellows, masques were proper theatrical productions often with lavish costumes and professional actors and performers.
These masques were to fuse with a British take on the Italian commedia dell’arte later in the 18th century. The commedia dell’arte was a mimed performance featuring set archetypal characters and set pieces. And in these isles had been refined to what was known as the Harlequinade, a mime show incorporating dance, slapstick and a chase scene. The story line was as follows - our hero Harlequin is in love with the fair Columbine, however her old father Pantaloon disapproves, and attempts to keep the lovers apart with the aid of his bumbling servants, the chaotic Clown and the lovelorn Pierrot who adores Columbine too.
However the Harlequinade is a fairly short piece of the theatre and hence it was performed as the centrepiece of another story often taking place between the first and second act. Like the mummers plays and masques before them, these early productions drew on fable and mythology and were the first pantomimes proper.
In the 18th century, the pantomime began to evolve. While the earlier pantomimes had drawn inspiration from Classical myths such as Perseus and Andromeda or featured original storylines, in this new era, adaptations of fairy stories became popular, and over time the various elements of the Harlequinade such as the slapstick and the comedic chase scene where woven in to the two act story rather than been a set piece interlude in the middle.
Pantomimes proved so popular with children that staging them at Christmastime, when the kids were off school, became a tradition in itself. Around this time, the famous audience participation in the production began, with many traditional moments where the audience could join in were established, such as booing the villain, warning the hero when the villain sneaks up on them - he’s behind you - and answering back the characters on stage. It was also in this era that the grand old tradition of the lead roles being gender swapped began, with men playing the dame character (usually the hero’s mother) and the ugly sisters in stories like Cinderella, while often the male lead, such as Prince Charming or Peter Pan was played by a young woman.
And indeed, pantomime has flourished ever since. And over the years, the format has changed little, with only minor changes evolving over the 20th century, such as the performance of send-ups of pop hits of the day, not to mention assorted celebrities, from outside the world of acting, taking roles in productions. Indeed in the UK, a visit to the pantomime is a Christmas ritual that generations of children have grown up with. And long may it continue!
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