The British Christmas panto has mopped up all sorts of different influences along the way, but it can mainly be traced back to the old 16th-century Italian commedia dell’ arte tradition, a populist kind of travelling theatre performed by wandering actors. Because of language and communication problems, these shows increasingly focused on physical acting, slapstick, comedy and funny costumes – a style which would also later develop in Britain into entertainments as diverse as Punch and Judy shows and Victorian Music Hall.

To this day, evil panto characters enter the stage from the left, and goodies from stage right, echoing a commedia dell’ arte tradition which always placed the entrances to heaven and hell on these respective sides of the stage.

The expression ‘slapstick’ is another commedia dell’ arte legacy. Harlequin used to carry around a wooden sword-cum-wand which could be used to make a slapping sound when he ‘hit’ people.

 

It was the famous 19th-century clown, Joseph Grimaldi, who pioneered the tradition of the Pantomime Dame, or an old woman played by a male comedian – Grimaldi’s roles included Queen Rondabellyana in Harlequin and the Red Dwarf and Dame Cecily Suet in Harlequin Whittington (the mind boggles).

Further cross-dressing was introduced into panto around the 1880s, with the introduction of the ‘Principal Boy’, played by a girl. The public demand to see comely young ladies tackling the roles of Jack, Dick Whittington, Aladdin etc is very easily explained. In an era when ladies were corseted and crinolined almost into invisibility, and in which even the legs of pianos were covered in drapes for modesty’s sake, the sight of an attractive young female clad in calf-hugging tights was always guaranteed to swell box-office figures.

 

No modern Christmas panto would be complete without its ‘celebrity’ guest star, usually a soap star, comedian, TV presenter or retired sportsperson, to top the bill (and very often from The Bill as well) – a tradition which dates back to the great 19th-century impressario Augustus Harris, who would regularly hire stellar contemporary artistes for his Drury Lane panto performances. Occasionally a company will manage to get a real stage star involved, as when Sir Ian McKellen took on the part of Widow Twankey in Aladdin at the Old Vic in 2005, a role that had previously been mainly associated with retired heavyweight boxer Frank Bruno.

 

There’s no such thing really as ‘traditional’ pantomime. The whole point of the genre is that it’s constantly evolved and adapted throughout its history to keep up with changing public tastes. Panto provides an important source of income for many theatres and is also often the first – and potentially formative – experience young children have of the theatre. A rollicking Jack and the Beanstalk or Dick Whittington could have them coming back to the theatre for years to come. Which is why pantomime is still just as relevant today as it ever has been. Oh yes it is...