Stratford sub Castle Guild Report February 2025 - "Pantomime – a classic British tradition"
Our speaker, Wayne Newport, has spent 30 years as a professional actor, on stage and screen. He also writes, directs and produces pantomime, and he used this extensive experience to lead us through the history of pantomime and its major structures, in an amusing and lively talk.
Pantomime has its origins with the ancient Greeks, who gave us mime theatre with masks, and the Romans, who concentrated on themes of vice and adultery, and who added a touch of realism to their shows, particularly if the plot called for a violent death – they simply brought a prisoner onstage and decapitated him!
However the first shows where we might recognise elements of pantomime were in 16th century Italy, with their “Comedy of the Artist” shows, which incidentally gave us Pulcinella – usually a puppet but sometimes an actor, who became established in this country as Mr Punch. The English pantomime first appeared in Drury Lane in the 18th century, but was not a success and not until a revival in the early 19th century, did it become popular. This was particularly due to Grimaldi, an actor who adopted a Harlequin persona. Some of the early shows were very elaborate and could last for up to five hours.
At the opposite end of the scale, family shows became popular as homely entertainment. Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Stories are the bedrock of pantomimes and the shows have a simple structure – Act 1 – the peril (something awful has happened or is threatened), Act 2 – the resolution (where good always triumphs over evil), The Finale – where lots of extravagant scenery and costumes are displayed and everyone is sent home with a smile on their faces and generally uplifted.
The main characters include Principal Girl – the lovely to look at character, but not popular with actors, as it is undemanding and not very exciting. The Principal Boy however is a much more popular part, played by a young female, usually in tight breeches or short tunics, which shows their legs, dating from a time when this didn't happen in other circumstances. A popular character with the dads accompanying their children. Cilla Black and Bonny Langford were particularly successful celebrities in this role (not all famous names are able to adjust to the hard work involved in performing energetically up to two or three shows a day, six or seven days a week). The Dame is the comedic mainstay of the show, a man dressed as a woman in extravagant costumes. The first was Dan Leno, with many 22 comedians being excellent Dames, including Les Dawson, Arthur Askey and Danny La Rue.
Animal roles are surprisingly popular among actors, as they can steal scenes very easily with simple gestures. Pantomimes are excellent business for theatres and an excellent source of work for actors, and also for the backstage scenery and costume makers. They do appear in some other parts of the world, but are quintessentially an English tradition, in their modern form. Oh yes they are!
Our next meeting will be on Thursday 13th March at 2pm when Christine Mason will tell us the story of Frances Nesbitt, who erected a plaque in St Lawrence Church in memory of her husband. Please note the experimental start time.
Richard Death