THE HISTORY OF PANTOMIME
Pantomime has its roots in ancient Greece and then came to fashion in Imperial Rome. Stories were done in ‘dumb-show’ (performed by a single masked dancer called Pantomimus) accompanied by a chorus, who sang the story.
In the Middle Ages, ‘mumming’ was practised at Christmas in Britain. Plays and dances included mystery plays in which the story of Christ was told. King Herod was the equivalent of a baddie in a modern pantomime.
The masques of the Elizabethan and Stuart days introduced gorgeous scenery and mechanical effects, which then absorbed comedy after the Italian tradition of the Commedia dell’Arte. These travelling shows increasingly focused on physical acting, slapstick, comedy and funny costumes because of language problems. Many of the characters like Harlequin, Clown and Pulcinella became popular across Europe, each with set gestures that represented his or her personality. Commedia stories would often poke fun at contemporary issues.
Harlequinades, in which Harlequin was the principal character, developed in the 18th Century. The first use of the word ‘pantomime’ was in a ‘ballet-pantomime’ staged in London in 1717. The first ‘modern’ pantomime dates back to 1773 when the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane presented Jack the Giant Killers. Their popularity was enhanced by the fact that King Charles II had imposed a ban on spoken drama which was to last well over 100 years, issuing only 2 Royal Patents for exception to theatres in Drury Lane and Lincoln’s Inn, both of which tried to outdo each other with their high revenue-generating pantomimes.
One of the most famous performers of the Harlequinade was Joseph Grimaldi who played the clown at the beginning of the 19th Century and he usurped Harlequin as the star of the shows. In 1820, he first played the Baron’s wife in one of the earliest versions of Cinderella, and so the tradition of the dame was born. Then the Harlequinade was separated from the main plot and started to come after the main play. The Harlequinade plot involved a complicated chase scene during which Harlequin would magically transform objects by whacking them with his wooden bat. This made a ‘slapping’ sound, hence the expression ‘slapstick’. However, the performances became far too long, often going until 1.00 in the morning, so by the end of the 19th Century, Harlequinades had disappeared except for the chase scene, now absorbed into the main story.
In 1843, the old King Charles II law was revoked allowing all theatres to produce a full pantomime with spoken dialogue rather than just the mimed chase scenes. New script writers started to emerge. Topical subjects were chosen such as ‘The Birth of the Steam Engine or Harlequin Locomotive and Joe Miller and His Men’ which appeared shortly after the first railway engine. Later, topics became more nonsensical with natty titles such as ‘Harlequin and the Tyrant of Gobblemupandshrunkemdowno’ (ideas for next year’s panto??).
The tradition of the principal boy being played by a woman started in 1819, when Eliza Povey played the title role in Jack and the Beanstalk. By the late 19th Century, it provided an excuse for female Music Hall stars to titillate a morally repressed audience by showing off their legs as well as their other talents!
Most pantomimes can be traced back to one of five sources:
Old English folk tales – Dick Whittington, Robin Hood, Babes in the Wood
Madame d’Aulnoy’s tales from France dated 1721 – Goldilocks, Cinderella
The Arabian Nights – Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad
French poet and essayist Charles Perrault – Mother Goose
18th Century London writers Henry James Byron and James Robinson Planché – Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots
Did you know that traditionally, evil panto characters enter the stage from the left, and goodies from stage right? This echoes a Commedia tradition, which always placed the entrances to heaven and hell on these respective sides of the stage.
Sally Fagan
Illustrations by Kevin Becken