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The performance of pantomime originates at its earliest in ancient Greece , but exploded in popularity during the reign of Augustus in ancient Rome . The name is taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus . 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" traveling 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.

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 .

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.

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:

The form has a number of conventions, some of which have changed or weakened a little over the years.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

Pantomime in the UK

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. The New Wimbledon Theatre in London is considered to be the "home of London pantomime".

Many city and provincial theatres 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.