British pantomime Brief

British pantomime is a British tradition of winters Christmas nights musical comedy theatre. It
starts with familiar fairy tales such as Aladdin and Dick Willington and his cat. British
pantomime injects music, comedy and style in addition to audience participation in order to
create entertainment.
British pantomime is influenced by middle ages of the Italian theatre tradition commedia dell’
Arte for an assortment of stock characters and other conventions. It’s sparked outrage when
the intense rivalry sprang up between the theatres producing British pantomime and
commedia dell’ Arte. Within a span of almost two days of performance in 1716 there was a
show opened with a similar title at the theatre royal in Duruy lane that marked the first
tenuous beginning of pantomime.
Some of the conventions in relation to stock characters are: (briefly stated)
- The principal boy: always played by a girl. The male young lead such as Aladdin is
usually played by a young woman with great legs in a short costume with tights. When
the characters was introduced in the 15th and 16th century (Victorian times) audience
were shocked of how revealing the young actresses legs were displayed. However,
when played by a boy actresses were allowed to show as much leg as they dare to and
this was referred to as “a breeches hole”.
- The dame: is played by a make dressed in a drag costume, the characters is comic and
female. She has extravagant and over the top costumes and makeup. Popular
comedians, and occasionally famous leading actors with a sense of fun, often do a
winter turn as a panto dame.
- Side kick: a secondary character on stage who interacts with the audience and
encourages them to clap and comment on the action.
- Animal: Most pantos have a comic animal played by two actors in one costume.
- Audience interaction: in panto theatres in Britain, the actresses and actors draw the
audience and entertain them with shouting and clapping and engagement and use
lines like “He’s behind you! “ Is shouted at the needed moment.
- Transformations: most pantomime plays have transition moments where set
designers use special effects such as lights and clouds of smoke and every fairy tale
has its own traditional transformation scene.
There is often a narrator and the main characters are the principal boy, the principal girl, the
dame; these are usually 'the goodies'. There are also 'the baddies' and usually an animal.
There are often other men dressed as women and along with the dame and the baddies they
introduce the comedy element to the proceedings. In addition, there is normally an animal
involved, which in reality is two people dressed in an animal costume and of course the
animal talks and often gives advice.

Audience participation:
Although the script there was a time for the audience to play a role. Many of the audience’s
lines are implicit in the script. However, not actually written down. Questions such as “where
did he go?” will predict with the pointing fingers of the audience and cause needed reactions.
Other ways characters such as the dame might interact with the audience is having them
rhyme words to a couplet the dame sings. Although pantomime plays are most based on
children’s fairytales. However, creators tend to write for a “family audience”. Thus, creating a
script that suits both groups of children and those who are more mind prepared for different
jokes. The script should allow for the appreciation of both groups creating types of humor
that suits the group’s understandings.

Music:
When there are jokes and drastic emotion changes music helps the audience to better
analyze the scenes and portray certain emotions like fear and laughter. Music bands often
give special attributes when it comes to improvisation in case anything goes wrong
throughout the show and they enhance the performance. Bands can be made up of duos,
trios, solo pianists and usually eight-piece bands. Live music can also help with giving an ease
to create the stage vibes. Sound effects are made using the music as well and backs up the
dramatization and idea the character might be building such as when the dame sings the
couplets. For example, the dame sigs the first verse of her song and stops to unpack her
ridiculous basket of props while talking directly to the audience. The “till ready bars”
continue underneath her words hooking the song into the minds of the audience until the
dame is done. Musical jokes are used in British panto mime. In addition, music is the sign that
the show will begin and is a queue children won’t forget.
Pantomimes are theatrical performances played in the language of action.

The set:
Traditionally the scenery for British pantomime is pictorial long before the technological
advances of cinema and computer generated imagery. A decent scale plan of the stage should
clearly show the proscenium, the edge of the stage, the lining and wing space with any
obstructions.
•The seats of each end of the front row should be marked on the plan and also the worst
sightlines. Therefore, affecting the placement of props in order to be seen by all the audience.
•There should be no delay when changing or choosing scenery in order for the show to run
smoothly from one scene to another without any breaks. The traditional pantomime format
interchanges “front-cloth” and “full stage” scenes. After a scene takes up all the stage, a
painted cloth is lowered near the front of the stage for the upcoming scene so that the next
full stage scene can be quietly placed and ready. There are three types of cloths in
pantomime: tumbling cloths, traveler cloth and front cloth in addition to back cloth when
there are full stage scenes.
•The most important scenes in pantomime will probably take place in full stage sets
consisting of a variety of scenic elements such as backcloths, wings, and periaktoi and
borders, cut cloths and build pieces.
The costumes:
Pantomime conveys serious subjects in a humorous manner and often related them to a story
of the time in the past and its costumes. The costume is often a long way from the realistic
period costume demanded by naturalistic period plays. It can bear little relation to a
historical past