The traditional pantomime has been influenced by many things over its almost five hundred year history. Pantomime as we know it can mainly be traced back to the 1500’s where it emerged from the Italian tradition of ‘Commedia Dell’Arte’. Commedia dell’Arte was a popular type of travelling theatre performed by wandering actors and it travelled through Italy to France to the UK in the sixteenth century.

Commedia dell’Arte generally featured actors improvising their way through a story involving characters such as Harlequin and his true love, Columbine. Other characters that often featured were the overprotective father, Pantaloon and his servant, Pulchinello (who would later be known as ‘Clown’). Although the character of Pulchinello has vanished from the modern pantomime, he still exists as Mr. Punch, the puppet who along with his wife Judy can still be seen in English seaside towns and parks today.

The main problem with the travelling Commedia dell’Arte shows was that the main actors did not speak very good English. This meant that the scenes from their shows had to be mimed as the audience couldn’t understand the language and more singing and dancing was introduced to the shows. Rather than telling jokes, the actors also had to make people laugh with funny actions, chases and mimes. The Harlequin character would carry a wooden sword during these shows with which he would comically ‘slap’ fellow actors, and this is what became called ‘slapstick’ humour.

The first actual ‘pantomime’ was staged in 1717 when the ballet-pantomime The Lovers of Mars and Venus was produced at John Rich’s Lincoln Inn Fields Theatre. These pantomimes became extremely popular during the 18th century and in 1773 the Theatre Royal in DruryLane, London staged the first pantomime story that we would recognise today – Jack The Giant Killer.

Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp followed in 1788, the characters of Clown, Harlequin and Pantaloon now being firmly established. Pantomime continued to grown in popularity in the 1800s as the original pantomime clown, Joseph Grimaldi, wowed audiences with his performances. His shows included comic songs and slapstick humour and he also introduced another pantomime tradition – the Pantomime Dame.

The Victorian era also saw the increasing importance of animal roles in pantomimes. The animal is played by an actor in ‘animal skin’ or an animal costume. It is often a panto horse or cow, played by two actors in a single costume, one at the front and one at the rear. Famous pantomime animals include Jack’s cow, Aladdin’s camel and Dick Whittington’s cat as well as Priscilla the Goose and Puss in Boots. Whilst most modern pantomimes now boast a TV, music or sports star in a leading role, casting established stars in pantomime roles actually dates back to the 1800s when theatre impresario Augustus Harris would regularly hire big name artists for his Drury Lane pantomimes.

Traditionally performed at Christmas and New Year, with audiences consisting mainly of children and parents, Irish pantomime is now a popular form of theatre incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, cross-dressing, in-jokes, audience participation and mild innuendo.

There are a number of panto story-lines and scripts - Aladdin is the first of many to be brought to you by the Ballinasloe Panto Society! - and a fairly well-defined set of performance conventions, including well-known tunes with re-written lyrics; the audience is encouraged to sing along and often challenged to sing their chorus louder than the other half! Additional audience participation includes calls of Look behind you!, with encouragement to boo! the villain and awww! the victim!

Pantomime remains successful to this day as it has managed to constantly evolve, telling traditional tales but unafraid to change with the times, and remains the perfect Christmas entertainment for children and adults alike. Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is!