Christmas is traditionally the time when the pantomime season begins – the modern day template of which with its rhyming couplets, double entendres, and topical wit, was very firmly established during the Victorian era. However, the name pantomime derives from Ancient Greece, when an actor or 'pantomimus' told stories by means of mime or dance, and that very often accompanied by music and a chorus.
In the middle ages the Italian Commedia dell’Arte (from whom we also owe thanks for the creation of Punchinello or Mr Punch) was a type of entertainment where travelling troupes performed dramas in marketplaces or fairgrounds, improvising their story lines around the character Harlequin, who wore a diamond-patterned costume and carried a magic wand. Later, this part was famously played by Grimaldi the clown who died in 1837, the year Queen Victoria came to the throne.
Joseph Grimaldi as Harlequin
As Victoria’s reign progressed the stories told by Harlequin became entwined with the antics of rural English Mummers, eventually evolving into some very much grander productions – although many pantomimes back then were still then based around Harlequin's character.
The proof of this is illustrated in the pantomime's elaborate titles, such as: Harlequin and the Forty Thieves, or Jack and the Beanstalk; or, Harlequin Leap-Year, and the Merry Pranks of the Good LittlePeople (surely some dwarves had been employed). In 1863 W S Gilbert wrote Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren; or, Fortunatus and the Waters of Life, the Three Bears, the Three Gifts, the Three Wishes, and the Little Man who Wooed a Little Maid - though that particular production may have been somewhat ambitious in its scope and also complexity. Years later Gilbert was heard to confess that perhaps it was not a good title.
The proof of this is illustrated in the pantomime's elaborate titles, such as: Harlequin and the Forty Thieves, or Jack and the Beanstalk; or, Harlequin Leap-Year, and the Merry Pranks of the Good LittlePeople (surely some dwarves had been employed). In 1863 W S Gilbert wrote Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren; or, Fortunatus and the Waters of Life, the Three Bears, the Three Gifts, the Three Wishes, and the Little Man who Wooed a Little Maid - though that particular production may have been somewhat ambitious in its scope and also complexity. Years later Gilbert was heard to confess that perhaps it was not a good title.
For whatever the reason, as the years went by the Harlequin character was used much less. Productions such as those put on by the manager Augustus Harris at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane were based on traditional fairy tales such as Jack and the Beanstalk or Cinderella. These were extravagant stagings featuring ballets, acrobatics and grand processions of specially recruited children. There were magicians and slapstick, cross dressing and innuendo. There was audience participation in the vein of the still familiar refrains of 'Oh no, he isn’t…Oh yes, he is'. And, there were also the popular ‘skins’, when actors would dress in animal garb to play the back or the front ends of a pantomime horse or cow – a role once undertaken at the Stockport Hippodrome by an aspiring young actor by the name of Charlie Chaplin.
Back in 1881 Augustus' Harris’ production of The Forty Thieves began at 7.30pm and ended at 1am the next morning. One scene lasted for forty minutes while the thieves (each of whom had his own band of followers) processed across the stage. The pantomime cost £65,000 to stage – the equivalent of several millions today. But then, with popular music hall acts such as Marie Lloyd and Dan Leno being employed to take the starring roles, Harris’ shows were always a success – artistically and financially.
If you have seen or are yet to see a pantomime this season the VV hopes it was, or will be, equally spectacular. She would also like to take this opportunity to wish you an early Happy Christmas, with much health, happiness, and laughter to come in 2013.
Oh yes she does!