NOTHING LIKE ANYTHING ELSE!

When you go to see a traditional pantomime what do you expect?

The plot is very simple: The girl dressed as a boy who is the son of a man dressed as a woman, will win the other girl (surprisingly dressed as a girl), with the assistance of a person(s) dressed in an animal skin. Try explaining that to an American, German or someone from the Far East. Whether the show is set in China, the Never-Never-Land or the City of London it will contain all the aspects regarded as necessary to a pantomime.

GOOD AND EVIL. The fairy Queen and the Demon King appear in all pantos, although their exact guise and title may differ. From Old King Rat to modern Fairy Liquid,  Peter Pan and Hook, names vary according to the location and topicality of shows, but certain stage directions nearly always hold strong. Good enters from stage right and Evil from stage left. This tradition of Evil entering from the sinister side goes back to the mystery plays and the few working star traps (through which the demon used to be projected in a puff of smoke) can always be found in the down stage left position.

PRINCIPAL BOY. A marvellous opportunity, in ages past when female attire went down to the ankles, to display a shapely pair of limbs and to increase the male audience. It was very common in both Regency and Victorian extravaganzas, both of which played a part in the shaping of pantomime, for women to play, more or less, any male role that they fancied. The Hamlets and the Romeos have been well documented, but it is not so commonly known that in the 19th century women appeared as Falstaff, Richard III, Protruchio, Shylock, and Don Giovanni.

The musical male impersonator, so dear to the heart of all Victorian men who love to see a strapping girl in a pair of trousers, was a totally separate phenomenon and enjoyed a brief vogue. This has since lost all popular appeal to a modern day audience.

The principal boy lives on as the sole survivor of the male impersonator in the theatre and even beat off the challenge of the swinging sixties. Norman Wisdom took the name part in "Aladdin" at The London Palladium in 1956/7 and was followed in the next decade or so by a wave of popstars. It was left to Cilla Black (Surprise Surprise) to reclaim the tights and boots in 1971, since which time the principal boy role has generally remained in the hands (or legs) of the ladies.

THE DAME. The principal boy part was one well- established theatrical convention; an even older one was that of men playing female roles. After women moved onto the stage at the time of the Restoration, a tradition still remained of men playing some comic female roles. A million miles away from the drag act, the Dame is a study in female eccentricity. A good Dame played with truth is a believable comic creation. George Lacy is said to have started the tradition in 1924 of the Dame changing her costume constantly and indeed, prior to that time, costume changes were rare. The Dame enters almost each time wearing a new costume, each one outdoing the previous in absurdity. Pity the poor wardrobe mistress in "Cinderella" who has two Ugly Sisters to dress. Also the Dame's entrances are more extravagant and exaggerated than any other character.

ANIMALS. Every memorable pantomime contains them - and not always the type we have come to expect. The animals in pantomime are usually depicted by speciality turns in "skins". It is true to say that some of the great started their careers by literally playing the back legs of the pantomime horse. Many years ago at the Hippodrome Theatre, Stockport, the front end of the horse was a young man named Charlie Chaplin. Animals have always enlisted the audience's sympathy and support.

THE TRANSFORMATION SCENE. This occurs one way or another in the majority of pantomimes and is designed to depict a change in mood when the hero is going through a period of doubt or unhappiness which the transformation should dispel. Transformation scenes are now contrived with the help of lighting and sound effects together with transparencies, but they previously used to employ almost every device that the theatre could offer. The most spectacular of them all was a trap door through which, with the aid of six men, the demon could be catapulted up to 14 feet above the stage door. Unfortunately, Secombe Theatre does not have the facilities for this, but wouldn 't it be good if they did.

The Pantomime is a living, growing art form. The Commedia Dell'art from which it is derived has all but died as, eventually, does all theatre which becomes fossilised. Pantomime has survived by taking and expanding from the new ideas that each age has given and we hope will continue to do so.