Pantomime theatre: Encyclopedia II - Pantomime theatre - Origin

Pantomime theatre - Origin

In both style and content, modern panto has very clear and strong links with Commedia dell'arte — a form of popular theatre that arose in the early the middle ages in Italy and which reached England by the 16th century. The gender role reversal resembles the old festival of Twelfth Night, a combination Epiphany and midwinter feast when it was customary for the natural order of things to be reversed. This tradition can be traced back to pre-Christian European festivals such as Samhain and Saturnalia.

In Restoration England, a pantomime was considered a low form of opera, rather like the Commedia dell'arte but without Harlequin (rather like the French Vaudeville). In 1717, John Rich introduced Harlequin to the British stage under the name of "Lun" (for "lunatic") and began performing wildly popular pantomimes. These pantomimes gradually became more topical and comic, often involving as many special theatrical effects as possible. Colley Cibber and his colleagues competed with Rich and produced their own pantomimes, and pantomime was a substantial (if decried) subgenre in Augustan drama. This form had virtually died out by the end of the 19th century.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Origin", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki