Pantomime - Oh No It Isn't

Doctor Who is a uniquely British institution loved around the world.

Pantomime is a uniquely British institution which just bemuses everyone else.

I’ve loved both since I was little.

Every Christmas, my parents would take me to see the Wimbledon pantomime. I loved every second. The fairy tales, the comedy, the songs and dances, the magic. As I got older I became fascinated by the theatrical aspects - the stage design, the choreography, the ‘format’, the scripting, the in-jokes, the double entendres. I performed in pantos directed by me and written by friends at our church.

In later years, I haven’t been to as many (theatre costs the earth nowadays) but the love still remains.

But what is pantomime and why doesn’t anyone outside the UK understand its appeal.

Pantomime’s roots can be traced back to the comeia dell’arte from Italy - plays which usually involved characters called Harlequin and Columbine.

But British panto is rooted more in Victorian theatre traditions and through the early and mid 20th century developed into the format which still plays today in theatres around the country at Christmas time.

The traditional aspects involve an adaptation of a fairy tale (although this has stretched to other stories such as Peter Pan and Robin Hood).

The main character - Cinderella, Aladdin, Dick Whittington, Snow White, Peter Pan - is known as the Principal Girl or Boy and all those roles can be played by a ‘girl’. Love interests such as Prince Charming may also be played by a girl.
Colin Baker as a panto dame.
In the 21st century, though, it has become increasingly common for the Prince or male love interest, or even Aladdin or Dick or Peter Pan to be played by a man.
The image is a promotional poster for the pantomime "Dick Whittington," starring John Barrowman and The Krankies, running from 9th December 2017 to 7th January 2018 at the Opera House Manchester. (Captioned by AI)

A hugely popular part of a pantomime is the Dame - a comedy role and usually a motherly role such as Aladdin’s mum, Widow Twankey. The Dame is always played by a man in a parade of elaborate costumes usually with a comedic twist. The UK has a number of famous Dames such as Christopher Biggins, John Inman and Sir Ian McKellen.

Every panto needs a villain for the hero to overcome. Whether it’s King Rat battling Dick Whittington or the Ugly Sisters stopping Cinderella from attending the ball, everyone loves to boo and hiss and bad guy.
Sylvester McCoy as King Rat.
Many pantos often have a comedy sidekick - Buttons to Cinderella, Wishee Washee to Aladdin or Simple Simon in Jack and Beanstalk. These characters will often be involved in a lot of audience participation encouraging the audience to join in with catchphrases like ‘oh no it isn’t’ or singing songs between scenes.

Different pantomimes have smatterings of other characters - a father figure, villain’s henchmen, various animals such as cows and cats. Songs and dances are often based around appropriate musical numbers, popular pop songs or old favourites. Sweets are thrown into the audience, children come up on stage, every joins in a singalong; there are puffs of smoke, special effects, music and a lot of laughter.

As you can see from the photos, lots of Doctor Who stars, past and present, have appeared in pantomime - with some being extremely well-verse in it such as John Barrowman, Bradley Walsh and the incomparable Bonnie Langford.

So why did fans use ‘pantomime’ as a term of derision during JNT’s era?

Sadly it’s because, certainly during the 80s and 90s, pantomime was seen as the place where hasbeen actors plied their trade. It was full of the sort of comedians who wouldn’t be getting a television special any time soon, forgotten actors and actresses who may have dominated light entertainment in the 70s and early 80s but were slowly falling out of fashion. It was seen as a bit cheap and a bit tacky and very, very cheesy - how very JNT. And we know he was a fan of them with his famous Doctor Who panto which he put on while producer of the show featuring stars such as Nicola Bryant, Mary Tamm and Anthony Ainley.

Fans with limited imaginations saw those elements in Doctor Who, and the association with JNT, and so the insult arose.

The fact is that pantomime, done properly, is an extremely hard job and putting on a good panto takes a lot of talent and skill. If anything comparing Doctor Who to pantomime should be seen as a good thing.

It sometimes confuses me a little that pantomime confuses non-Brits. At the end of the day it’s a comedy musical play based on a well-known fairy tale performed, usually, around Christmas time. It’s not the trickiest of concepts to get your head around… :wink:

And my favourite Doctor Who-related panto fact? I once saw Colin Baker the villain, Bluebeard the Pirate in a panto production of Robinson Crusoe at Wimbledon. At one point he kidnapped the principal girl from the deck of the ship. And how did he escape?

By TARDIS of course.

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It happens every now and again to me that someone will say in my vicinity something like ‘it’s behind you’ and I’ll instinctivly say oh no it isn’t!!! Which is America means you have to explain with variable success why as a child you get shipped out on a school trip to the theatre to watch this loveable nonsense.

I loved it as a child and I would happily go again today. I would love to go to one with a DW actor in!

And I love the Benny story Oh No It Isn’t too :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Yes. I meant to mention that in my post but I’ve been writing and rewriting it since yesterday evening and just thought I’d stick it up and add to it in discussion.

Here’s Colin as the Pirate in Robinson Crusoe:

crusoebaker87

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In the 90s we started to get a lot of Australian soap stars in panto because of how popular Neighbours and Home and Away had become.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, we suddenly started getting US stars like Henry Winkler, David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson coming over to appear in pantos but it’s a fad which didn’t last long.

Nowadays panto seems to be more highly respected not least because the London Palladium puts one on every year and big name stars like Ian McKellen appear in them (appearing alongside John Bishop last year in one which ended up touring until Easter).

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For many years I had no interest in watching a pantomime. I think, in part, I had been influenced by the negative use of words like ‘pantomime’ or ‘camp’ in relation to Doctor Who and so associated pantomime with ‘crap’.

I’m happy to admit I was very, very wrong. A few years ago, my wife (who’s German and so also never seen a panto) decided she wanted to go to one. So we both went along to watch our first pantomime, at the age of 40. And we both loved it!

We’ve not really had an opportunity to go again since but it’s definitely an experience we’d like to repeat.

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I think I’ve just realized what those slightly absurd (but absolutely amazing) theatre shows were that they played on Dutch TV around new years. Always really loved “De Gelaarsde Poes” which is honestly a quite insane musical about the Puss in boots singing Michael Jackson and getting drunk on milk, and has a James Bond pastiche for some reason. Still the greatest adaptation of the story I’ve ever seen.

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This is actually super interesting, I had never heard of this type of theatre before! It doesn’t appear to exist in Germany, or at least I’ve never heard of it. And my brain is still getting a bit twisted about it tbh because the German word ‘Pantomime’ translates to English ‘mime’ which is indeed something totally different

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So, I have a question as part of the filthy, uncultured Commonwealth. Is is actually pantomime acting? As in, is there no dialogue? Or is it just a name for this type of theatre? I swear I am constantly learning something new about British culture. It’s so interesting. Your tiny little island is an onion. But in a good way, like Shrek. Just layers upon layers of culture and tradition completely foreign to even us here in Canada.

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It’s more like a farce than anything - there is a lot of dialogue and lots of audience participation, the classic one being:

Actor 1: It’s behind you!!!
Actor 2: Oh no it isn’t!
Audience: Oh yes it is!!!

It’s very silly and pantomime as a whole is just the very specific type. I’m sure the name comes from something, and I would’t be surprised if it had roots in the Commedia Dell’Arte.

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That sounds like a blast!

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That was a great explanation, @deltaandthebannermen; thanks for sharing! I’ve, of course, bumped into the concept of panto since I devour so much British culture (what a surprise!), but all I knew was that it’s a comedy play people go watch at Christmas. I didn’t know that it was a spin on old fairytales or that certain character types always appear.

I love a good play, and I’m a fan of farce, parody and the like, so I’d probably enjoy panto if I ever got the opportunity to see one. It’s not a thing over here, unfortunately, so I have to make sure to visit the UK at Christmastime sometime to attend one :wink:

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I haven’t seen many pantomimes. I distinctly remember going to see one when I was little because I had a pretty traumatizing experience afterwards (which is nothing to do with the show and I shall NOT repeat it here :sweat_smile:) so perhaps that is why I never tried to repeat it in my adult life lol.

I’d like to see another sometime. Maybe in a few years time I will take my granddaughter to see one! :smiley:

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It’s one of these things that, as an american, I haven’t seen and didn’t have much reference for. Though I have consumed a lot of uk books and television, and I suspect I’ve seen plenty of references to it. The Shakespeare scene in the Good Omens series comes to mind, or Wyrd Sisters…

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