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<\/a>Determined to see this Christmas tradition, it didn’t take me long to figure out I could invite my young niece and nephew. I could get to see my panto by using little Jack and Orla as camouflage! Twenty years later I still go to the panto every year. We pretend we\u2019re taking the young ones, our Christmas present to our nieces and nephew (now four of them), but we all know they\u2019re really chaperoning me.<\/p>\n
The annual Christmas Pantomime is a hugely popular, eagerly attended part of the Christmas season throughout Ireland and the UK.\u00a0 The Panto is a deliberately campy, over-the-top\u00a0 stageshow that incorporates ham acting, singing and dancing, corny humor, men in drag, audience participation, topical references, and double entendres\u2026\u00a0 all aimed for children\u2026 but not-so-secretely loved by adults.\u00a0 Picture a children\u2019s theatre, crossed with a vaudeville music hall, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, MTV, and a touch of Jim Henson. A slice of old fashioned entertainment! What are pantos? How did they begin? The Pantomime (which today\u00a0 luckily has Nothing to do with Mime) is descended from the Harlequin and Columbina plays of the Commedia dell\u2019arte dating back as far as the 16th Century. Simple sketch plays featuring stock characters depicting typical types of people, with bawdy humor, improvisation, and props: kind of a Punch & Judy Show with live actors.<\/p>\n London theatres in the 18th Century carried on this tradition, first as silent performances with only dancing and gestures (thus \u201cpantomime\u201d). Following nicely in the footsteps laid by the Medieval Mummer\u2019s Plays associated especially with Twelfth Night, the Pantomimes quickly became a popular entertainment during the Christmas season. By the mid 19th Century the shows became more elaborate, with witty and topical dialogue, slapstick, and often spectacular and elaborate theatrical effects. The plots evolved from simple skits to a small repertoire based on nursery rhymes and folk tales. We\u2019re talking twisted fairy tales here, with little resemblance and very little regard\u00a0<\/span>for the original tales.<\/span><\/p>\n There is usually little or no reference to Christmas; the basic subject is adopted from a children\u2019s story such as from Cinderella, Aladdin, Jack & the Bean Stalk, Snow White or other such chestnut, and freely borrows characters and features from other tales, or invents wholly new bits you’ve never heard of nor dreamt. It is assumed that the audience is so familiar with the original story that there is little effort to develop the plot which is instead adapted for comic or satirical effect.*<\/p>\n The curtain rises. Enter the hero: \u201cHello boys and girls! I said HELLO BOYS AND GIRLS!!!\u201d \u00a0and repeated yet again until the audience responds loud enough.<\/i><\/p>\n The mad performance follows a stereotyped routine with a love triangle that includes the hero and heroine, a comic lead played by a man in drag (the Panto Dame), an evil menace, a friendly godmother sort, and a lowly servant or other character who befriends the audience, is menaced by the villain and is besotted with the heroine. Every production includes a scary scene of dark menace, and a slapstick grand chase. And then there\u2019s the famous banter with the audience. The Dame \u201crecognizes\u201d people in the audience:<\/p>\n \u201cIs that Mary? Mary dear, you\u2019re looking wonderful! In this light ye can\u2019t tell you had Botox at all!\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n And the audience does indeed participate, with the enthusiasm you would expect of children at Christmas. Not just booing and hissing the villain, or sympathizing \u201cAhhhhh\u201d with the lowly friend. The cast will prompt the audience, but It\u2019s just a formality\u2026 everyone knows the score. \u00a0The packed theatre will warn the hero (\u201cLook behind you!\u201d), and argue with the villain (\u201cOh no they don\u2019t!\u201d \u201cOh yes they do!\u201d Oh no they don\u2019t!\u201d) You get the idea.<\/p>\n I suspect most of the audience is there for the song and dance (including the dreaded audience participation bit at the end). The best of the panto for me is the topical humor. Beyond the winks and nods at pop culture, hit songs and celebrities, there are plenty of razor barbs aimed at politics and current events, and naughty double entendres galore. Clever and witty, these bits are played for the adults in the house, but still enjoyed by the children on their own level.<\/p>\n After all these years I\u2019d hate to think of celebrating Christmas without this tradition. The first niece we took, Orla, is now an adult close to setting off for college; nephew Jack\u2026 well he\u2019s as tall as the beanstalk, and little Amy and Rachel are growing as fast as they can. They all grow up too fast, and soon I fear will probably be too old for this tradition. On the other hand, so far even Orla still loves going to the Panto with us, and we\u2019ve just gained a new nephew less than a year old\u2026 I think my Christmas celebrations are safe for years to come!<\/p>\n _________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
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