What exactly is Pantomime? I hear it referred to occasionally in British contexts. For instance, one of the Beatles, as a small boy, was described as particularly enjoying the annual “Christmas Panto”.
Then in older books (for instance P.G. Wodehouse), I come across references to stock pantomime characters, like the Demon King who “pops up out of a trap”, and Dames. What exactly is a pantomime Dame?
Pantomine is a traditional theatre performance. You get them all over Europe, but in quite different formats. The British format happens around Christmas, usually has a traditional plot (Like Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales, folk tales, nursery rhymes) but with a topical twist. They are primarily aimed at children, but with enough to keep the grown ups interested. They are not, on any account, to be taken seriously and are usually comedy driven.
The star is usually a well known TV performer, but with enough live experience to carry it off. They are easy money for ‘as-seen-on-tv’ minor actors and can be pretty dire in many of the lower budget productions. It’s one place where you get away with hamming it up and being a rotten actor.
The ‘Dame’ is a older man dressed as a women, usually purposefully ugly, and often the actual star of the show. They certainly get most of the laughs. The ‘male’ lead is often a young woman dressed as a man. There is, however, absolutely nothing saucy about this. It’s just the way it’s done. But the ‘male’ lead may dress in tights and be there ‘for the Dads’. (Don’t try and figure it out, it’s a law to itself.) There is always a bad-guy who dresses in black and has a moronic side-kick. Subtle they ain’t.
So, to describe someone as a Panto Dame is to suggest they are ugly, not particularly feminine and probably use too much make-up.
On Monty Python, there is a show where they have a pantomime horse and a pantomime Princess MArgaret. Tehy are essentially people in a horse and Margaret costume. DOes this type of costuming have anything to do with these shows?
This link gives a good explanation of the “rules” of pantomime ,including the role of the pantomime horse.
://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/brian_turner/panthis.htm
I shall repeat that link as it seems to be faulty
//ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/brian_turner/panthis.htm
here we go again!
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/brian_turner/panthis.htm
It’s behind youuuuuu !!
Oh no it isn’t!
Oh yes it is!
Absolutely. Of course the important rule here is that the horse (or sometimes cow) should only have a passing resemblance to said animal. And preferably big eyes and lashes.
Not to mention a rear end with an independent attitude to that of the head. And a zip between them.
I can see that the humorous potential of pantomime is very great. Back before the first Amphioxus (primitive creature with a spinal chord) appeared in the primaeval ocean, I once saw a sketch on TV where a couple of guys were supposed to be mounted on horses. So each man had only a sort of horselike apparatus worn around the waist, with the head and shoulders of the horse sticking out in front, and the rest only a vague rendition of the top of a horse’s body. To show the horses getting anxious they just bopped around a bit.
For some reason I thought that was indescribably funny.
I’d like to help out with some kind of explanation but it seems like one of those things that you do need to experience. Anyway, here’s a little rambling:
IMHO, Panto works at a number of levels: For the youngest kids it’s just grown ups being silly and dressing up, for slightly older kids it tells a story, older again and it introduces the concept of the surreal together with challenging their perceptions of gender boundaries and other visual presumptions.
At the end of it, kids shouldn’t have problems with stuff like cross-dressing, have also been introduced to, and initiated in, a range of comedic genre’s and have had a lot fun.
I’d also agree with the earlier posts suggesting a MP link, it certainly can be seen as Python for the kids.
That all sounds a bit grand. I dunno, how about: it’s huge fun and educational. Maybe.
“Booooooo Hisssssssss”