In the UK Pantomime is a beloved festive tradition performed in towns and cities throughout the Country during the Christmas season. Dating back to the middle ages and taking on board the traditions of the Italian “Commedia dell’ Arte” and the British Music Hall, pantomime is an art form that has constantly adapted to entertain countless generations.

It is not entirely clear how the modern Christmas entertainment that we have today came to be called Pantomime at all, although it is possible to see how the format has developed over the past several hundred years. In the C17th theatres could not survive on plays alone and had to seek out other forms of profitable entertainment.

 In the 1750’s John Rich staged Harlequinades, a story in which the handsome Harlequin runs away with the beautiful Columbine rather than the old man to whom she had been pledged by her father. John Rich developed the character of Harlequin to a very high level receiving great critical acclaim. As the story was so formalised Introductions were added and the actions of the characters evolved to become wilder and wilder, as the theatre managers competed to attract audiences. With each success a new idea would immediately be copied by others and become the norm. 

In 1800 Joseph Grimaldi,  the most famous of the pantomime clowns, found instant success when he made his stage debut which immediately transformed the format, with clowns becoming a dominant character in the harlequinade. Each story had the same fixed characters: the lovers, father, servants; roles, characters and routines that can be found in today’s pantomimes.

Over the years the introductions to the harlequinade became much longer and more complicated and slowly many of the pantomimes that we know were introduced. By the mid C19th Mother Goose, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin and Cinderella had all been used for the introductions with the transformations of the characters into the harlequinade coming much later in the performances and the harlequinade itself becoming much shorter.

In the 1830’s Burlesque extravaganzas were introduced. With extravagant sets and dancing girls they proved much more colourful than the pantomimes of the day, although some Victorians questioned the suitability of Pantomimes for family entertainment!

By 1900 the harlequinade had just about died out but the tradition of the Christmas Pantomime, with its main fixed characters and its constant ability to evolve for new audiences, was well established. 

published October 20th, 2011