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Teacher’s Pack BITESIZE THEATRE COMPANY BITESIZE THEATRE COMPANY Pantomime Pantomime, or Panto, is a Christmas tradition - in Britain only! Many other countries don’t know/understand Panto. Panto was originally derived from the Commedia del Arte, which is where many of the stock characters of Panto have evolved from. Commedia del Arte was a burlesque theatrical style that became extremely popular in Italy in the sixteenth century. Performances took place in the streets or on squares during fairs and festivals. The use of masks was one of its most distinguishing features. To keep the audience’s attention from wandering, the performances were interspersed with comic scenes: the lazzi. These lazzi often had no connection with the contents of the play at all. It has been said that as they became increasingly popular, the lazzi drew larger audiences than the plays themselves. Pantomime developed from this type of travelling street theatre called Commedia dell'arte which came from Italy in the 16th century. Commedia is a very physical type of theatre that uses dance, music, tumbling, acrobatics and buffoonery. Commedia dell'arte troupes had a repertoire of stories that they performed in fairgrounds and market places. Often the touring troupes were made up of family members who would inherit their characters, costumes, masks and stories from their parents or grandparents. Commedia spread across Europe from Italy to France and by the middle of the 17th century began to be popular in England. Commedia Characters Like pantomime, Commedia dell'arte had set types of character called stock characters. Each character had set movements and gestures that represented his or her personality. The characters included the old man (Pantalone); naughty servants including Arlecchino, the lover, his lady and her servant girl (Columbine) who was in love with Arlecchino. There was also a clown or Pierrot character. The actors wore costumes that depicted their character. Originally they also wore leather half masks over their faces. Commedia actors did not have a script but would improvise within the outline of a story. Commedia stories were often satirical and would poke fun at contemporary issues or ideas. From the 1660s Commedia dell'arte characters began to appear in English plays. Such was the success of Commedia in England that an intense rivalry soon sprang up between the theatres producing it. Within two days of a new performance opening at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in 1716, a show with an almost identical title opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It was John Rich, an actor manager who performed under the name of John Lun, who gave pantomime its name. His pantomimes were composed of music, dance and song, interspersed with dialogue. The pantomimes were in three parts: A short introduction on a serious theme, sometimes based on a classical myth. A popular tale, a legend or a folk story which later developed into the pantomime stories we recognise today. After the second part of the pantomime the actors would transform themselves into the Commedia characters for the Harlequinade. These transformation scenes became more and more elaborate, using stage technology to thrill the audience. In time the transformation scenes became hugely popular and established audience expectation for spectacle in pantomime. John Rich's first pantomime at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre was called Harlequin Sorcerer and was in two acts, one serious and one comic. It was billed alongside other kinds of entertainment, and pantomimes continued to be part of mixed bills until the middle of the 19th century. Pantomimes made John Rich the most successful theatre manager in England. He earned so much money that he built a brand new theatre, the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden which opened in December 1732. It became famous for its pantomimes, with elaborate tricks and technical effects. For over 150 years the character of Harlequin was the star of the pantomime and pantomime was dominated by the Harlequinade, a comic chase scene telling the story of Harlequin and Columbine. The Harlequinade was in mime with music and lots of slapstick and tomfoolery. Every pantomime had a Harlequinade as part of the bill. The story of the Harlequinade had the same basic format; a chase scene where the two lovers, Harlequin and Columbine, are kept apart by the girl's father, Pantaloon, whose servants play tricks on him. In the chase the two lovers are pursued by her father and his servant, Clown. At this time actors had a repertoire of stock characters with whom they were associated. John Rich's character was Harlequin and he developed the character into a mischievous magician. Rich also developed the drama of the chase scenes. John Rich's Harlequin used a Slapstick or wooden bat which he would hit against the scenery to make the scenes change by knocking down a series of hinged flaps. The chase scene would take the characters to many different locations all controlled by Harlequin's magic bat. The locations of the chase were often places that people would recognise - named streets or areas of London for example. They also included mythical locations. The pantomime traditions of slapstick (meaning a certain type of clownish physical comedy), chases, speed and transformations were developed from Rich's Harlequinades. Transformation scenes started as a way of moving between the different sections of the pantomime. Rather than just stopping one section and starting another, actors found creative and imaginative ways to transform the story into the Harlequinade. During the transformation scenes the actors would take off the giant head masks that they had worn for the story and remove their costumes to reveal themselves as the Commedia dell'arte characters. As pantomime developed and stage technology became more advanced the transformations became events in themselves. It was designer William Beverley who first used the transformation scenes to alter stage sets. Scenery was flown in from above on wires or changed by a series of hinged flaps. Trick objects turned around to become another object. Beverley introduced a 'fan effect' where the scenery collapsed sideways and inwards, like a folding fan, to reveal a view from behind. Soon audiences expected to be impressed by the stage technology of a pantomime. The names of scene painters and other technicians began to appear on playbills. A good transformation scene was as big an attraction to an audience as a famous actor. By the 1890s pantomimes were lavish affairs and audiences expected fabulous sets and fantastical transformation scenes. The character of Harlequin originated in the Commedia dell’’arte plays of the Renaissance. ‘‘Arlecchino’’, as he was then called, was a wily and unscrupulous servant whose clothes were covered in patches. His face was covered with a black half-mask which also had a bushy moustache and whiskery beard. Through the centuries, Harlequin’’s costume became increasingly stylised, and the tatty patches became a regular diamond pattern. The Commedia dell’’arte plays involved a great deal of physical humour and acrobatics and this aspect of the characters was carried through to the British counterparts of the 18th and 19th Centuries. An actor playing Harlequin had to be an acrobat as well as an actor. Some of the famous Harlequins of the past such as Tom Ellar did themselves permanent physical damage from playing the part. Another attribute of Harlequin is his ability to do magic. The French version of the character could turn himself into different people. The English Harlequin of early pantomime could transform the things around him by striking him with his magic bat or ‘‘slapstick’’. Shakespeare's Clowns The English clown was descended from the Vice character of the medieval mystery plays, a buffoon and prankster who could sometimes deceive even the Devil. Among the first professional stage clowns were the famous William Kempe and Robert Armin, both whom were connected with Shakespeare's company. William Kemp was such an important star that he was a part owner in both the company and the Globe Theatre. He specialised in playing stupid country bumpkin type characters, a style that would later become known as the Auguste. Robert Armin specialised in playing court jester style fools. He wrote a book on famous court jesters, one of the first histories of clowning to be published. The style of Shakespeare's plays changed when Armin replaced Kemp so it is known that he tailored them to the style and abilities of his clowns. Scholars believe that part of the existing scripts were actually ad libs by the clowns that were written down after they proved popular. According to tradition, Hamlet's order that clowns speak only what had been written down for them was in reality Shakespeare's criticism of Kemp's ad libbing. The White Face The traditional whiteface makeup of the clown is thought to have been introduced by the character of Pierrot, the French clown with a bald head and flour-whitened face. He first appeared during the latter part of the 17th century. Created as a fool for Harlequin, Pierrot was gradually softened and sentimentalized. The pantomimist JeanBaptiste-Gaspard Deburau took on the character in the early 19th century and created a famous love-sick, pathetic clown, whose melancholy has since remained part of the clown tradition. The First Circus Clown The earliest of the true circus clowns was Joseph Grimaldi, who first appeared in England in 1805. Grimaldi's clown, called Joey, specialised in the classic physical tricks, tumbling, pratfalls, and slapstick beatings. In the 1860s a low-comedy comic appeared under the name of Auguste, who had a big nose, baggy clothes, large shoes, and untidy manners. He worked with a whiteface clown and always spoiled the latter's trick by appearing at the wrong time to mess things up. The Auguste Clown There is a widely told story about the origins of the Auguste clown –– where an American acrobat named Tom Belling was performing with a circus in Germany in 1869. Confined to his dressing room as discipline for missing his tricks, he entertained his friends by putting on misfitting clothes to perform his impression of the show's manager. The manager suddenly entered the room and Belling took off running, ending up in the circus arena where he fell over the ringcurb. The audience laughed and yelled ‘‘auguste!’’ which is German for fool. The manager commanded that Belling continue appearing as the Auguste. Many historians doubt that the legend is true, as the word Auguste did not exist in the German language until after the character became popular. Another theory of the origin is that Belling copied the character from the Rizhii (Red Haired) clowns he saw when he toured Russia with a circus. Early auguste clowns had a naturalistic appearance as if they had just wandered off the street into the circus ring. The exaggerated make up associated with the auguste clown today was introduced by Albert Fratellini, of the Fratellini Brothers. The Tramp Character One of the most well known figures is the tramp made famous by Charlie Chaplin. The tramp clown was created by James McIntyre and Tom Heath in 1874, portraying African Americans made homeless by the Civil War. They based their characters on blackface minstrel clowns which is the origin of the white mouth used by tramp clowns. Their idea may also have been inspired by the travelling hoe boys (hobos) or itinerant farm workers, who rode the rails from one town to another, wiping the soot away from their eyes & mouth. The Tarot Fool In the Tarot, the Fool is that part of ourselves that is wise enough to stand awestruck before the mystery of creation, and bold enough to set off exploring. The Fool is the only card in the major arcana that is unnumbered, and he has no set position in the order of the cards. He symbolises the part of us that looks out upon the thoughts, feelings and dreams playing across the shadow theatre of the mind. Carrying the minimum of possessions and the pilgrim’’s staff, egged on by a strange animal (sometimes a cat or dog) symbolizing the inner motivation that snaps at our heels once we start to question the nature of reality, the Fool steps toward the unknown –– the inner self. Modern Clowns Clown figures became popular worldwide with Hollywood films and especially silent movies in the early 20th century, including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and the Keystone Cops amongst others. More recently on television, the clowning tradition is continued by Basil Fawlty, Mr Bean and Blackadder and in the theatre by artistes such as the French mime Marcel Marceau, and the Russian clown Slava Polunin. Multicultural Clowns Most cultures have had their own clown character. Clowns have gone by many names around the world throughout history including: Auguste, Badin –– medieval France Bobo –– Spain c 1500s Buffoon, Cabotin –– Italy c 1500s Cascaduer –– France Charlie –– European Tramp Clown Chou –– China Claune –– France 1800s Contrary –– Native America Plains Tribes Excentrique –– Solo French Clown Fool, Gleeman –– medieval England Gracioso –– Spain late 1500s Grotesque –– France, acrobatic clown 1820-1850 Hano –– Native American Hanswurst –– Germany & Austria c 1700 Harlequin –– Commedia del Arte & English Pantomime Jack Pudding –– England 1600s Jester, Joey, Jongleur –– ninth century Europe Koyemsi –– Native American Hope Tribe Merry Andrew –– England 1600 & 1700s Minnesinger –– Germany 1100-1400 Minstrel –– medieval Europe & America 1800s & 1900s Narr –– Germany c 1600 Newekwe –– Native America Zuni Tribe Pagliacci –– Italy Pantalone –– Commedia del Arte & English Pantomime Pedrolino –– Commedia Del Arte Pickle Herring –– Holland & Germany 1600 & 1700s Pierrot –– France Tramp –– America Trickster –– mythology of many cultures Troubadour –– medieval France Vidusaka and Vita –– India Whiteface and Zany –– Italy There are a number of stock characters which are common to almost every pantomime. They are great fun to play around with during a drama exercise, attempting to become them physically. Principal Boy/Hero Examples of these would be Aladdin, Robin Hood, or the Princes in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. They can be played by a man or a woman. Their physical stance is usually fists on hips, legs apart with the head held up high. Their voice is usually quite deep with an RP accent. Principal Girl. Examples of these would be Snow White, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Maid Marion, or Jill from Jack and the Beanstalk. They are usually the sensible character who is often at threat from the ‘baddie’ (for example the Queen wanting to kill Snow White). The Principal Girl usually falls in love with the Principal Boy, and if so she will get together with the right man at the end. Many Principal Girls are quite mundane for an actor to play compared to other characters in the play. Many Principal Girls are drippy, naive and lack a depth of character. Physically, they are usually very graceful, mainly due to their status as a Princess. They are light and courtly with an air of elegance. The Dame Examples of these would be Widow Twanky, Cooks, Nurses, Ugly Sisters. Almost always played by a man and usually the most comedic element of the Pantomime. Many of the jokes are intended for the adults in the audience. They usually stand with their legs together, bottoms sticking out, and hands held underneath their boobs. When walking, they tend to have a slight mince (but nothing too camp), and occasionally kick a leg up behind. Vocally, they sound like a man putting on what they think is a woman’s voice; trying to be high pitched and effeminate. The Double Act They don’t always have specific names, but will usually be company or product names (for example Black and Decker), or a saying (Rough and Tumble / Bubble and Squeak) or famous figures (Bill and Ben). They are usually both a bit dim, and their physicality matches this. They would scratch their heads a lot, and their cowardice would be characterised with knees knocking together, or with one jumping into the other’s arms. One is usually brighter than the other and will come up with the ideas. Quite often the double act are given the dirty work to do by a baddie. The Baddie Examples of these would be Abenazar, Fleshcreep, The Giant, The Sheriff or the Evil Queen. The Baddies love to be booed! They hatch the plan that will make them rich and powerful, and will land them in the arms of the Principal Boy/Girl. They often tell the audience their plans, which leads to their downfall, and they always get their comeuppance in the end! The physicality of the Baddie varies from show to show, but usually they hold themselves quite well and always have a higher status than their minions (and think they have a higher status than all other characters). There is the characteristic evil laugh with every Baddie. The Comedy Figure Examples of these would be Wishee Washee, Simple Simon, Buttons and Muddles. They often are the audience’s friend, who tells jokes, gives out the sweets, but are always a low status character - laundry boy, a butler, a servant. Usually, he will fall in love with the Principal Girl, although her will not end up marrying her. He will usually find someone else, or be given a higher status job so that he, too, has a happy ending. He will have an agile physicality, and will include slapstick and circus skills into the act. Their vocality will usually reflect the regional accent where the performance is. The Good Fairy Examples of these would be The Fairy Godmother (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella) or the good Sorceress. Good Fairies are usually played by women, however there are a few exceptions to this rule! She is usually instrumental to making the end a happy one. They are usually attached to one character to make their dreams come true (for example, Cinderella’s Godmother provides the carriage and gown so she can go to the ball to meet the Prince). She can also foil the Bddie’s plan. Quite often the Fairy guides the characters through a moral journey to become a better person. Their physicality is usually very light, sometimes balletic, and they almost always enter with a spin. Good Fairies will often have an RP accent, and will usually speak in rhyme. Word Search 1 O L X P A N O T G R M T BOBO S B Z J E S T E R A A G FAIRY Y H O K J L W M A M G D WAND D F H B T P M A L E I C MAGIC A Q E U E R S D X Z C B PRINCE L L I C P O R E H T H O JESTER T L E D N G S W V M T L PANTO O A P F K I C Y U N D G LAZZI R Z A P E J R I A L N G CLOWN R Z A W P I T P W U W J PIERROT E I J K A L O Y U R O E LAMP I T Y F A N R M Y A L R HERO P W E H Y R D O L C F DAME I Word Search 2 W I D O W T W A N K Y E S C T Y H U J O C P L P R T Harlequin A D W E R W S D R U P R I N C I P A L G I R L H U K Commedia A D W B T G Q H K L P O H B D F L S E W N B V X C V Pantomime L P I Y E R D F G J L E C V B A S X D R D W E G G P Slapstick A W S R T E S D B Q U O R P D V C X A S E D E R R Columbine D R H T J K L E P N B X Z D V B F D A S R E W N Q I Pantalone A S E Q W H A R L E Q U I N R Q U J I N E A D I E N Auguste S T U Y A R L Q N Y A F F G I S D L E A E S C Principal Boy Q W E F K L W E T E G H J E S D Z X C A D L L L L T Y A S I Principal Girl H F A Y T R E R V B N A L J S S R L J U A I L G B P Fairy Godmother D A S Q W E R F G H N B K J P L B N C X D S A D H A Buttons R G H D E S T H U E G K L P I N B V C X A S A F B L Widow Twanky E D E E T G L H B J K L P M N N E T S U G U A B C B Abenazar H C E E S T G A F G J K U T N E R W S D F G I B Y O Cinderella T C D E I R G H P T R E B F I H J K L P O Y D T N Y Aladdin O N M G M D F R T S E U S D N W E T R B N J E U Y T Wishee Washee M D F G P T H L M N T G H F G T S S E R T F M G H B Jack D C D S L A S E W T T I Y H W J K A L M N B M Y T L Jill O F R E E M H J O O P L C U H Y J E K L O P O Y G H Beauty G D E T S D E N S G H J K K E N I B M U L O C O L U Spinning Wheel Y R D T I Y S U N I O P L K E H G F D S E R W A Q U Evil Queen R Q U E M E N J O I K L P H L T Y F D S G H Y U I O Simple Simon I O P L O I N C P J A C K D U Y O P T R E Y U O P L Enchantment A D F H N K L O P M G H T U P L E M I M O T N A P M Genie F M J K O P L K G H T R D F S A X C B N Y U T R I O Beast J K L P P A N T A L O N E Y O E N C H A N T M E N T Puss in Boots O B J E S T O P M E O A R Z R Z E I O R I E FAIRY G WAND I MAGIC C PRINCE H O Y W I A P A N D O W T W A N K PANTO LAZZI N CLOWN W PIERROT O LAMP L HERO C DAME Y P C R I N C I W B H H E U W E H E A R L E Q U I N T N S E L S I O M M P D L O E G S Y I R M I O A N B P B S U T T I O C N K S J A C Commedia N Pantomime Slapstick E E R Columbine R N I Pantlone J E I N Auguste I L E C Principal Boy L L I Principal Girl L A P Fairy Godmother P A Buttons I L Widow Twanky A B Abenazar N I O Cinderella I D Y Aladdin R N A L P S N R G A A I Harlequin D Z Y T F G D S E L D E E H A A S R P L I A JESTER N R P D A T F I BOBO L N I W A D C L R M B T E M E T S U G U N T E Wishee Washee G S M Jack W A M Jill H E O Beauty C Spinning Wheel E N I B M U L O E Evil Queen L Simple Simon K Enchantment E M I M O T N A P Genie Beast