Holiday Traditions
Many chorines and 'ballet girls" found holiday employment in pantomimes. Footnotes to Dance History offers this column this month as a look back into this Christmas tradition, and as an alternative to the plethora of "Nutcrackers" that exist in many forms. Studios specializing in jazz and musical theatre, and community theatres needing their alternative to "A Christmas Carol" may find this form of theatre quite suited to their performers and welcomed by their audiences.
This is not mime with silence and white faces. This form of pantomime, a British holiday tradition that pre-dates Charles Dickens, is a combination of theatre, song and dance, put together in a very comedic manner. One writer described it as a combination of "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." The favorite vehicle or subject of pantomimes is a fairy tale. Many British actors and actresses, including Julie Andrews, grew up seeing and performing in pantomimes.
The art of pantomime is about 3,000 years old and was first performed in Ancient Rome and Greece.
Pantomime characters are a direct link to the Commedia Dell Arte, a form of Italian theatre from the 16th century that used song, dance and stock characters to tell the story. Many of the parts in theatre today are from characters developed during this time - the mean old man, the big loud woman and the young pretty girl. There are certain traditions to pantomimes that are always followed, dating from their roots in medieval times. When few people were educated or could read, the church would teach its parables and lessons using actors and mimes. Heaven was always placed on the right and the underworld on the left. Because of that, good guys (and ladies) always make their first entrances from stage right. The villains make theirs from stage left.
Audience participation is a major part of British holiday pantomimes. American audiences may need to be trained, but what a riotous pre-curtain warm-up that would be. Members of the cast hold huge cue cards, or "break the wall" and talk to the audience. The audience is expected to "boo" the villains and to cheer the heroes and heroines, reacting vocally to the action onstage. They are cued to yell "It's behind you!" to warn a character of approaching danger. Another exchange is "Oh, no he isn't," the actor replies, and "Oh, yes he is" for the audience's retort (Or "Oh no he hasn't" and "Oh yes he has."). Modern puns, music and more are always mixed with old fairy tales in a holiday pantomime, and the story is reworked quite a bit to allow for role reversals and lots of comedy and action such as "Jason and the Astronauts." When theatre budgets allow, special effects are used and overused. But that is the fun of a pantomime. Slapstick fights and zany chase scenes are a favorite part of pantomimes, not always restricted to confines of the stage.
The loudmouth over-the-top character of The Dame, who is called that in every panto, is always played by a man in drag. Each time he (she?) enters, she makes a change of costumes so she never appears in the same outfit twice. The part normally associated with a man, that of the hero who saves the day, is done by a female. The weaker part - the one needing rescuing - is played by a man. One example is the panto "Georgina and the Dragon."
By reading this list, directors and choreographers might find themselves already casting their first pantomime mentally.
Stock pantomime characters include:
The Dame - always played by a man. "She" is usually the hero's mother.
Principal boy - played by a female. "He" must be strong, brave, able to leap from tall objects and sing love ballads (Robin Hood, Aladdin, Jack the Giant Killer). Traditionally, the principal boy has the last two lines of the panto, but because of superstition, never speaks them in rehearsal, only during the actual performance.
Principal girl - played a pretty young girl with a sweet manner and voice (Cinderella, Maid Marion, Sleeping Beauty).
Goodies - A beautiful good fairy, like Glinda from "The Wizard of Oz." She represents good and always enters from stage right and stays stage right when onstage.
Baddies - Lit by a green or red spot, this bad person enters from and stays stage left. (The Witch in "Snow White" and Hansel and Gretel are good examples of this character).
Clowns - these are comedic roles. Think of bumbling fools or wimps.
Animal roles - these are talented singing and dancing 'animals' who help the story along and keep the audience involved.
Parental figures - These are the kings and queens and other authority figures such as wicked stepmothers. They may at first be the enemies of the heroine and have to be won over by her charms and beauty. They are basically good, but misguided at first.
The narrator - the one who opens the panto and sets the tone with an overly dramatic and comedic version of what is about to happen.
Pantomime scripts are available on the Web with copious notes, and there are books on how to write your own. Add a pantomime to your holiday list of Christmas Carols and "Nutcrackers" if you can find one.