During Christmas throughout the UK and Ireland a trip to the "pantos"–the stage shows knows as pantomimes, whose history goes back to the medieval mystery plays and Commedia dell’Arte with an added fillip of British music hall–is as much of holiday tradition as trimming trees, eating fruitcake and exchanging presents.
For the London 2008 season, one of the pantos–which often feature stock characters of the Cinderella, the Ugly Sisters, the Dame, the Harlequin and wicked King Rat–has taken a topical turn.
In this version of the classic rags to riches pantomime Dick Whittington, at Kings Head Theatre, evil King Rat is a banker intent on bringing down the economy of his island, Gran Canaria. The villainous rodent makes loans to small businesses and then suddenly calls them in, and concludes his nefarious plans by buying the island’s central bank. Explains the show’s co-writer Jon Bradfield:
His aim is to bring down the financial system. We wanted to keep the show fantastical, but there was a certain desire to have it grounded in the real world too. We asked who the ultimate anti-social baddie may be, and this seemed an obvious answer right now.
Like all pantos, this one has a happy ending. If only real life was so tidy.
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There’s a king rat in the Nutcracker Ballet as well, IIRC.
I’m note sure we can really understand the whole cultural tradition of “Christmas Pantomime”. When my mom was a nurse in Glasgow during the war, she played the role of the genie in Aladin for the wounded soldiers and sailors. They would go without a lot of stuff during the war, but to not have a ‘panto’ at Christmas would have been the end of the world.
A little satire goes a long way.
In a nut shell, there’s a very good article in the Detroit Free Press, If I had the Floor at the auto rescue talks by Mitch Albom who says
You’ve already given hundreds of billions to banking and finance companies — and hardly demanded anything. Yet you balk at the very idea of giving $25 billion to the Detroit Three. Heck, you shoveled that exact amount to Citigroup — $25 billion — just weeks ago, and that place is about to crumble anyhow.
Full article here: http://www.freep.com/article/2…..371/?imw=Y
Does the word “hypocrisy” ring a bell?
Another place, another time, when people actually spoke to one another, went to the pub, sang and danced and did their best to entertain each other. That is four generations or more ago, something that is reportable in FoxFire, there is no living recall of those times. Even the family and neighbors gathered about the radio on a Sunday to listen to Amos n Andy or Charly McCarthy, such evening is no longer a living recall. Only in the home islands is the Panto still revered, as it should be as a cultural institution that brought people together, to enjoy the company, and share their piece of holiday happiness with each other. What a loss the colonialists enjoy. ;-(
Well, for those of us who are addicts of Monte Python, the pantomime horse and the pantomime Princess Margaret are things that were funny, just on their face, but had no cultural meaning for US. In the UK, however, it was a whole different matter entirely.
new thread upstairs, folks.
Going to Dublin to catch the Panto (3 or 4 different companies playing different Theatres)
wasis de-rigueur for all the cultchies at christmastime even these days. The U.S. is the poorer for the absence of the Panto. Probably the closest form was the vaudevillian theatre.(cultchies = country folk)
A Londoner writes.
The correct headline for this should be:
“Oh No He Isn’t!” “Oh Yes He Is!”
Given that Dick Whittington is about London’s first lord mayor, it’s appropriate that a banker be a villain. A nice change from the recent trend of replacing characters with other cultural icons. In recent years we have seen Aladdin’s genie replaced by Spiderman, much to my confusion.
There are at least two theaters running Pantos in the Philly area: one is a “traditional”, small production. Another is a mix of British panto with Broadway (both in production values and overall tone).
I think the British empire is trying to make a comeback….first the Pythons, then the Pantos, then…insidious bahstards, eh?