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A visit to the Pantomime is a longstanding Christmas tradition.Children and grown-ups alike love it, this peculiarly Britishway to celebrate the festive season. When else would you takethe kids to see a woman playing a man, a man playing a woman andthe most blatantly fake animal ever seen on a stage?

There are several elements that must be included in atraditional Panto; the show should be based on a well-knownfairytale; there must be singing and dancing; topical jokes aswell as old chestnuts; shameless double entendre; lots ofaudience participation; familiar stock characters must appear,and of course there must be a transformation scene where theput-upon hero or heroine finally achieves their destiny.

The word pantomime originally meant the person performing in adumb show - a play without words that today we would call amime. Later it began to refer to the show itself. The form ofthe modern pantomime is thought to be based on the ItalianCommedia dell'arte, a humorous play which would combine music,acrobatics, and slapstick and include familiar characters, stockstorylines and topical jokes.

In the late 19th century the trend for casting a well-knownactor in the pantomime began at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,and continues to this day. You may be fortunate enough to see agreat performance from a comedy legend, although nowadays theroles are more likely to go to soap stars, ex-members ofshort-lived pop bands and TV reality show survivors.

So why do we love it so much? Firstly there is little on at thetheatre that the whole family can enjoy together. Secondly it isall so familiar; you know the stories and the characters, it isjust like putting up the Christmas tree with the decorations youuse each year, a long-remembered ritual. Ultimately however, thecharm is its utter irresistibility. However down you feel whenyou go into the theatre, you cannot help but groan at theappalling jokes, cannot help but join in with ‘it's behind you!'and cannot help but sing along with everyone else in the finale.

Most importantly it is the best way to introduce your childrento the magic of live theatre. There is nothing like theexcitement of a live performance, with its unpredictability, itstension and most of all, its atmosphere. A pantomime is theperfect way to let your children experience that magic.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - It Wouldn't Be Christmas Without A Pantomime