Pantomimes and its rich cultural heritage

SHOPPING: 'But it's only November!', I exclaim as a friend tells me she's going to watch the Oxford Street lights being switched on. Already a year has flown past and another indescript failing pop band are getting glammed up to press the mighty button.

After a ten second count down, colours ablaze and twinkling, London's most renowned shopping district is illuminated - signifying the opening of the official Christmas shopping season. Now perhaps I'm just being cynical but each year I'm adamant the 'switch on' creeps earlier and I don't think it's because we're all excited about the religious festival.

Moreover it's because after a poor year for retailers they've decided to go for the jugular and get us spending our pennies as quickly as possible just in case we change our minds. And the majority of us Londoners seem to have fallen for it.

Tackling the traffic around Marble Arch at around sixish on Saturday night was a traumatic experience. Apart from avoiding the usual kamakaze drivers, I also had to play dodgems with families carting bags and bags of Christmas goodies home.

It dawned on me that from now until at least February that route will have to be avoided. Until February, you ask? That's a whole other ball game. January Sales start at the end of December and that's when you have to avoid the families carting bags and bags of unwanted, ill fitting, faulty Christmas presents back to the shops.

The other premature Christmas launch happening later this week, is the Great British Pantomime season. Like festive shopping it's a big business, with most of the nation flocking to see shows up and down the country. The phenomenon which has now become as much a part of English Culture as cricket, is mind boggling especially when you realize how utterly slapstick and ridiculous it is.

Tourists and visitors to the capital who pop in to watch a show must think we are all utterly insane! So what is a pantomime? In a nutshell it's men dressing up as women, animals on stage and lots of silly audience participation. But as with all things it's got a rich history.

The origins of British Pantomime or "Panto" date back to the middle ages, it's a show predominantly aimed at children, based on a popular fairy tale or folk legend. The most popular subjects being "Cinderella", followed by "Aladdin", "Dick Whittington" and "Snow White". Other popular titles are "Jack & the Beanstalk", "Babes in the Wood" and "Sleeping Beauty".

Pantomime has become a thriving business in this country. Large theatres vie with each other for the "star" names that will attract full houses, and the pantomime can often run for six to eight weeks, providing a massive box office revenue.

Every year a selection of Australian 'soap' stars, US personalities and Brit actors jet into tred the boards demanding sky high wages, which they have no problem securing.

Last year the most high profile celebrity taking to the stage was Sir Ian McKellan (Gandelf - Lord of the Rings), so as you can probably tell the cost of putting on a modern pantomime can be anything between œ150,000 and over half a million pounds. Back in 1827 the shows staged at Covent Garden and Drury Lane cost up to œ1,000 each.

This year, British stages will see about 60 commercial pantos, with hundreds more staged by amateur companies. Popular as ever are Cinderella (40 productions), Aladdin (39), Jack and the Beanstalk (33) and Dick Whittington (20).

So what makes a good panto? There are basic ingredients that are staple to a successful recipe. The plot should always be good battling against evil, emerging triumphant. A really traditional panto will have the Pantomime villain first entering from the left - the "dark side", followed by his adversary the good fairy from stage right (Echoing the Medieval tradition when the entrances to heaven and hell were placed on these sides).

The next ingredient is slapstick, and we're talking the really basic slipping on a banana skin jokes. This is the part of the show which cynical me thoroughly cannot stand. It's also the part that kids love. Frequently we'll see the 'good' character standing on stage asking the audience where the 'evil' character is hiding.

Inevitably he's right behind him. Here, the children and adults are given full license to yell at the top of their lungs 'He's behind you!' to warn the hero. On a Saturday night during pantomime season, if you're ever walking down Drury Lane you'll be able to hear the phrase reverberating around the walls of each theatre and escaping onto the street outside.

Accompanying 'slapstick' is your stock sound effects provided by the orchestra in the pit to 'point' comic business. These can include claps of thunder when the villain enters to birds singing sweetly when the hero rescues the heroine.

And this brings me swiftly onto the 'cross dresser' this is probably one of the most sort after roles in Panto as the male actor is given all the best lines and gets the most audience laughs while dressed up as a really unattractive old Dame, and mother to the shows' hero. This role usually attracts the most high profile TV stars and the reason isn't to do with the 21st century's obsession with celebrity.

Back in 1800, the most famous of the cross dressing actors was a man called Joseph Grimaldi, who had a massive influence on these early pantomimes. The public clamoured to see his performances at Sadlers Wells and Drury Lane, and left the Theatre singing the comic choruses of the songs he introduced.

The Theatrical tradition of men playing women can be traced back to the early days of theatre, when it was deemed inappropriate for women to enter the theatrical profession (Boys played all the female roles in Shakespeare's plays). The exception to this came in 1800 when the 'Principal Boy' or hero began to be played by a female.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the vogue for ladies to take on the heroic roles of "Jack" or "Dick Whittington" or "Aladdin" began, and with the rise of Music Hall it became the rule. The Victorian male, living in a society where even the legs of a piano were covered for modesty's sake, craved the vision of a well turned calf, or shapely ankle.

Whilst ladies were corseted, and covered up outside on the street, artistic license allowed ladies on stage to wear costumes that revealed shapely legs in tights on condition that they were playing a male role! When we look at the rich cultural heritage behind pantomimes it becomes slightly easier to accept them.

I still find them juvenile and frustratingly baseless; but the formula works - it must, hundreds prize them as a Christmas 'Must See'. The most enduring appeal of pantomime is that there is something for everyone, whether it be the booing and hissing, the groan-inducing jokes, unfortunate innuendo, unmemorable songs, perky dancers, doubles entendres or awkward rhyming couplets.

Back in 1882 it was said, "Pantomime seems at present to hold its own, I do not see how it can continue to do so" - when you look at the inventions or the crazes that have come since then you realise the powerful staying power of the British panto.

These days it incorporates live rock and roll bands, pop music and expensive dramatic effects. It remains an intrinsic jewel in our crown, and it has to carry with it an important task. A visit to a pantomime may be a child's first experience of live theatre. If that experience is magical enough, it can leave a lasting impression.

In a world where children are surrounded by computer games and videos, DVD's and the all pervasive influences of television, a visit to a pantomime could be a catalyst. The audience of the future- not just Pantomime, but live theatre could be fostered by the experience of sitting in a darkened auditorium, not a couch in front of a flickering screen, and watching the magic of Pantomime.

The tradition will continue, children will shout "Oh yes it is!" as loudly as ever, and, when the evil fairy lurks behind our hero sneakily, children (and adults) will still cry out "Its-behind-you".