It's Pantomime (Oh No It Isn't) (Pantomimes)

Member Name: Iantowned

Product:	Pantomimes
Date:	17/12/08 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: *Wolf Whistles*

Disadvantages: *Booo, Hiss*

**Overview**
Well as christmas draws ever closer, I thought it would be a good idea to do a review on pantomime (Oh no it wouldn't!)
I love pantomime, it's surprisingly brilliant as I will try to explain....later :)

**What is Pantomime (or Panto)**
It is a christmas play, no it's the christmas play, set for the family; slapstick for the children and err a great deal of smutty innuendo's. Plus there's buffoonery, song, dance, acting and a man...dressing up as a woman with women dressing up as men pretending to be women (Its strange, I know but it does happen at my local panto)
Normally the plots have absolutely NOTHING to do with christmas, in fact they only mention christmas in passing. So know you probably want to know what the storylines are,w ell you ought to know that they are fairytales (with a twist), there normally stories like "Aladdin" or "Cinderella".
In pantomime there are some conventions, that are basically sacred...in a panto is nothing without its expected features.

**Panto conventions**
*Principal boy, E.G Aladdin, is a girl in a skimpy outfit that shows of her femininity, and she usually slaps her thigh after jokes/gags
*The er washerwoman sort of character is the dame, you know a man cross-dressing wearing very extravigant costumes....usually says most of the innuendos and recieves or gives the slapstick
*Risqué double entendres which of couse seem entirely innocent but really there not..oh and children never get these jokes
(Good example of this; "I'm suppose to kill Snow White with Salami???what on earth can i do to Snow White with a salami")
*Audience partcipation, a necessity (oh no it isn't). Usually the audience are encouraged to whistle when the dame enters, hiss when the villain enters and when qued shout things like "It's behind you" or something silly like that.
*A well known song re-written to make it more singable, again audience participation here (Another example; P-A-N-T-O, P-A-N-T-O, P is for perfect, A is amazing, N nothing like it, T Is terrific...Ohhhh--oh, we love PANTO....Can you guess the song that the panto company changed?)
*Panto horse...or cow or something like that...they don't have much to do with the plot...there just scene fillers, while the dame gets changed or the scene is being set or simply lines have been forgotten.
*The good fairy always enters from stage right and the evil villain enters from stage left
*the cast throwing sweets at the audience (the first two rows of the cinema usually) unfortunatly this doen't happen that much now...smelly helth and safety, just because some small child probably got a sweet in their eyes.
*Sometimes the story villain will squirt members of the audience with water guns or pretend to throw a bucket of 'water' at the audience that is actually full of streamers.
*The slapstick routine, you know a cooking scene where things get messy?
*celebrity reference....sorry what i mean is, a famous actor or actress is the lead in the pantomime, like Sir Ian McKellen was widow tawnkey in 2004

**My opinion**
well I truly do love pantomime, its sort of a dream of mine to be the lead girl, or principal boy...alas i dont have such a fabulous figure, cracking legs, a good singing voice and of course i get stage fright (and yet I have had a cream pie to the face on stage?) It's so wonderful to go to a pantomime, the atmosphere is very electric, the fact that the audience participates and they use well known songs to help the story along and there is always room for a good bit of innuendo. I just love it all and I can't wait for my local panto (going v.soon..not sure when)

Well merry xmas and happy new year....and try and get to your local theatre to watch a panto (They normally run until mid january so you have still got plenty of time!)

Summary: (It's behind you) Check this way :)