In winter in Britain, many children and adults enjoy going to the theatre to watch a pantomime. Pantomimes are a very old form of entertainment, but the modern version is as popular as ever.

Pantomimes today originate from a type of light, popular, comedy play from 16th Century Italy. Some aspects of modern pantomime date from this time, for example having stock characters who appear in different stories.

Pantomimes started to be performed in England in the 17th Century, and it was here that the comedy developed into slapstick - a clownish, physical comedy characterised by people falling over or fighting in a silly way.

In the 19th Century, Grimaldi, a famous clown, introduced the tradition of audience participation¹, a very important aspect of modern pantomime. He established catch phrases, which the audience would respond to by shouting a known response.

There are two very well-known catch phrases in modern British pantomime. The first is that a character will pretend not to see his enemy and ask the audience where he is. The audience shout out ‘Look behind you!’ The second is where a character pretends to have an argument with the audience using phrases like ‘Oh yes I did’ and ‘Oh no you didn’t!’

Pantomimes are based on folk stories or fairy tales like Cinderella, Jack² and the Beanstalk or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves³. The performances often include songs or music.

There are two stock characters who feature in almost every pantomime. The first is the pantomime dame⁴, an older woman such as an aunt, usually played by a man. She usually has an outrageous⁵ costume and a bawdy⁶ sense of humour.

In addition, there is often a male character played by a young woman, called the principal boy. This is usually the hero of the story. The fact that actors are playing roles of the wrong gender⁷ is part of the joke.

Often, celebrities⁸ from the world of TV or pop music take leading roles in pantomimes, or ‘pantos’. You will find a pantomime in almost every theatre in Britain in wintertime…‘Oh yes you will!’