Holiday pantomimes are beloved by the Brits — and still baffling Canadians
Described as 'escapist anarchy' and 'magic' for all ages by founder of Royal Canadian Theatre Company
Instead of hanging stockings or decorating the tree, what about taking in the holiday theatre tradition of organized chaotic comedy, otherwise known as pantomime or panto?
They are common in the U.K. and classified as a type of slapstick musical comedy that incorporates songs and dancing. Brits adore them but they're still often misunderstood by many Canadians.
Ellie King is familiar with the ins and outs of panto. Virtually her entire life has been spent in theatre and performing arts. She was born and raised in England, first hitting the stage at the age of two.
She founded the Royal Canadian Theatre Company and recently retired from the role of artistic director.
Since moving to Canada in the '80s, King has written and staged many pantos, to the delight — and occasional bewilderment — of Canadian theatre-goers.
Following the stresses of COVID-19, she believes people are hungry for the type of "escapism" and "magic" that pantos can provide as they're normally wrapped around a fairy tale.
"It's pure escapist anarchy," she said.
King spoke with Day 6 host Brent Bambury about the tradition of holiday pantomimes. Here's part of that conversation.
A lot of folks in Canada won't have been to a panto before. Just what is the audience in for at one of these shows?
A lot of noise. It's highly interactive, so what happens on the stage can be mirrored in the audience. There's usually one character that comes on stage and yells a catchphrase at the audience, which they answer. And from start to finish, it's a mad ensemble of colour, pratfalls, comedy, sly pokes at politicians and social mores.
It's based, usually, on fairy tales or legends. And it's just a magic swirl. It just kind of rolls over the footlights and encompasses everybody. It's the best escape you can have for two hours.
Panto means a lot of noise. But isn't panto short for pantomime? And doesn't mime mean silent?
Yeah, it's one of those strangely British things that happened in London in the very early 18th century. Prior to that, there were two plays or two entertainment pieces at the theatre.
One was called a pantomime, which was a dancing master. A very serious chap. He was trying to bring back the Roman tradition of the pantomime as a dancer, who would not speak but act out all the different parts of a story.
On the same bill was commedia dell'arte, which is a crazy loud, very often improvised troupe of players with stock characters that toured from Italy and were very funny and could be quite naughty at times.
It got conflated. So, people said, "Oh, did you see the pantomime?" But they were actually talking about commedia, which actually is the direct ancestor of modern pantomime or panto as it's known. That's why it's so noisy.
Who do you want to be in the audience? Do you want it to be kids? Do you want it to be adults? What's the ideal audience mix?
It's like anything else, like a fast food restaurant that shall remain nameless. You catch them young, you've got them for life, right? So it's very often a young person's first introduction to theatre. They go, they love it and they hope for life they will come back year after year.
When you first started putting them on in Canada, with the glitter and the shouting and the pies, how did Canadians respond when they're used to seeing something a little bit more sedate?
It was sort of like, 'What? What are you doing?!' And not just the audience, but my actors, too.
An actor has to trust their director. They would rapidly lose trust in me when I was asking them to shout things at the audience.
There were a few stalwarts in the audience and the combustion took off. After that it was crazy. You played packed houses. A good panto season will float a theatre season for the rest of the year.
Imagine someone's coming to see a panto for the first time. We know there's going to be audience participation, but what are the ranges of audience participation they should be ready for?
It's everything from just straightforward enjoying the play and applauding and laughing ... right through to yelling.
They're behind you when the monster stalks the good guys, which always happens. Right up to the sing along at the end where it's during the sing along, you might be asked to stand up, sit down, turn around, sing, shout, clap your hands.
Who knows what you might be asked to do? The world is your mollusk, and everything in between.
In the United Kingdom, how important are pantos to the whole holiday tradition there?
Vital. It used to be that pantos would open on Boxing Day and sometimes run right through until Easter because people just couldn't get enough.
I honestly can't speak to the popularity now because I've lived over here for 40 years and I've only ever been back once. But from what I see online, it seems the popularity is as great as ever.
I would say that Sir Ian McKellen, no less, is playing a panto dame every year. So the popularity is definitely there and it's grown here.
Since I did my first one in 1988 there was only one other that I was aware of [in Canada]. Now there are loads of them all over the place. People just can't get enough of them.
Pantos are staged in a few cities in Canada, but they're not nearly as widespread as in the U.K. But if someone wanted to put on a panto in their hometown, what advice would you give them?
The skill is to have something that's naughty enough that the adults go, "oh, all right," but the kids have no idea what they're talking about.
The other very important thing, too, is the dame is a man in a dress. It's not a drag act. It's a man in a dress.
We live in an age of social media and blockbuster movies and streaming services. Why is there still an appetite for this decidedly analog art form in 2022?
You go to the movies and something happens on the screen and you react to it, and then you go the next night and the exact same thing will happen the exact same way on the screen. No matter who reacts or doesn't react, whatever, it doesn't change, it's unchanging.
You go to a panto or you go to live theatre, but particularly panto because it's so interactive and something happens on the stage and you react to it. There's a good chance that the character will speak back to you. And you know they will. The characters on stage will react to what's happening in the house.
As an audience member you control the narrative to a very large degree, and you cannot do that in film. It's just not possible.
Interview produced by Mickie Edwards.
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