Pantomime.
A Pantomime also known as a panto, is a comedic musical stage production that is often targeted toward family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom and in other English speaking countries. Panto is very popular mainly around Christmas time and New Year, usually performed from November to the end of December however it can sometimes be performed anywhere between November to February half term. Modern pantomime usually includes musical numbers, Acting, slapstick comedy and interactions with the audience. It generally has cross gender actors which are woman actors playing a male role or male actors playing a female role.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomime
Pantomime appeared for the first time in the 17th century, they’re often based around fables and fairy-tales. It first appeared in Ancient Rome, back then it was a production involving only one male dancer who acted all the roles in the panto, But because of it being a solo based performance it’s not often classed as a proper pantomime. Instead you may know its origin from the Italian ’commedia dell’Arte’ In the 16th century which is a form of street theatre, which is acrobats and music.
https://www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/why-pantomime-is-important
Usually a pantomime will include, Principal boy, principal girl, A villain, good/bad fairy, comedy characters, panto animal, sing along and slapstick comedy. Some examples of pantomimes are Peter Pan, sleeping beauty, jack and the beanstalk, Snow White and Aladin.
Some of the panto traditions are ‘booing and hissing’, these are usually said by the audience when a villain is being mean or nasty. ‘Oh no it isn’t/ oh yes it is’ which is a call and response method where a cast member will shout and the audience will reply. ‘It’s behind you’ this phrase is usually spoken by younger audience members when one of the characters on stage “go missing” or when the characters are encouraging the audience to help them find something. Animal roles are usually played by 2 people in a mascot style costume. Slapstick comedy is where one cast member hits another over the head with an object which can take place at any point during a pantomime. The messy or ‘slosh’ scene is an extended version of slapstick involving some kind of liquid or sticky substance.
https://www.alexjacksonpantomimes.com/a-beginners-guide-to-british-pantomime-traditions/
Snow White.
Snow White and the seven dwarfs is an American animated musical film which was released in 1937. It then went on to short films which are named ‘The standard parade’ (1939) https://youtu.be/HbKCq5YhsPE?si=qmIN6lee36uuj8Rg, The seven wise dwarfs (1941) https://youtu.be/zMSTKqZgN2s?si=h7C3xdjyXzGeKSVb, All together (1942) https://youtu.be/jXpWHga7osE?si=_oK7IfWzW1WjWEiD, The winged scourge (1943) https://youtu.be/y68F8YwLWdg?si=0s1aFCo1TfJWULk5. It is also a television series called ‘Once upon a time’ from 2011-2018 and a musical called Snow White: An Enchanting Musical (2004). Snow White was also made into games and theme park attractions. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_(franchise)
Snow White was published by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm in Germany in 1812, where they published their first editions of their fairy tale collection. Some of the main messages of this play is that good will always prevail over evil and that vanity will not take you far but kindness will.
The magic mirror is meant to symbolise to always tell the truth. Which would teach kids to always be honest. The Apple is supposed to be a religious symbol from the story of Adam and Eve and to symbolise temptation and danger of the unknown. This is possibly teaching kids not to take from or talk to strangers. The queen symbolises evil and Snow White symbolises goodness and kindness which also shows kids that although there are some bad people around there can also be kind people around so to not trust anyone unless you know them.
https://edubirdie.com/examples/messages-themes-and-symbols-in-the-novel-and-movie-snow-white/
Snow White is about a princess who lost both of her parents at a young age. She then lived with her evil step mother, the queen, who made her be a scullery maid because the queen feared snow whites beauty. The queen always asked her mirror ‘who’s the fairest of them all?’ and the mirror always replied saying she is. until one day a prince overheard snow white singing and they both met and fell in love and that day when the queen asked the mirror, the mirror said snow white was the fairest of them all. Angered, the queen then ordered her huntsman to take snow white to the woods and kill her but her huntsman didn’t have the heart to do that and urges snow white to flee into the forest and never come back.
snow white was lost and frightened which led her to befriend the woodland animals who then led her to a cottage in the woods. snow white assumed the cottage was home to seven untidy orphans so she started cleaning and cooked a big meal. She soon learned that the home belonged to seven dwarfs. Doc, Grumpy, Happy, sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey who all work in a near by mine. snow white agreed to do the dwarfs chores in order to stay there.
The queens mirror reveals that show white is still alive and living with the dwarfs, Angered, that the huntsman tricked her, she makes a poisoned apple which puts people into a death-like sleep and can only be woken by true loves kiss but the queen was sure snow white would be buried by then and delivers it to the cottage disguised as an old lady. Although the animals see through her disguise and go get the dwarfs. As they’re returning to the cottage they see the queen and trap her on a cliff and a lightning strikes the cliff which causes her to fall and get crushed to death by a boulder. the dwarfs return to the cottage and put snow white in a glass coffin in the middle of the woods. the following spring the prince learns of snow white in the glass coffin and goes to visit her. Out of sadness he kisses her and she wakes up and goes to live with the prince. https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=dae87d55e5620464JmltdHM9MTY5ODE5MjAwMCZpZ3VpZD0wZGQxYWJjZS03ZDczLTY5ODUtMDQzNC1iOTdmN2MyYjY4YzUmaW5zaWQ9NTU1MA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=0dd1abce-7d73-6985-0434-b97f7c2b68c5&psq=what+is+snow+white+about&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvU25vd19XaGl0ZV9hbmRfdGhlX1NldmVuX0R3YXJmc18oMTkzN19maWxtKQ&ntb=1
Magic Mirror.
The Magic Mirror is a spirit full of wisdom, that has been trapped into the mirror, that hangs in the Queens private chamber. The Mirror always speaks the truth and he normally speaks in rhyme. He is also owned by the Evil Queen.
Not much is known about the mirror beside that his purpose is to serve who ever owns him at the time. While he’s a bit hostile and unsympathetic at times, it’s not intentional as he’s only like this because he’s obeying the queens orders of always telling the truth. This is why he’s not hesitant to tell the Queen anything that may upset her or make her angry.
The Evil Queen speaks to the mirror every day demanding to know who ‘the fairest of them all’ is. For as long as the mirror tells the Queen that she is the fairest of them all the Queen is satisfied, knowing that the mirror never lies.
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Magic_Mirror
Reviews, public opinion and politics on Snow White And pantomime.
Snow White in pantomime.
People have wrote about how they’ve ‘Never seen a pantomime before but Snow White and the seven dwarfs was everything I was and I was not expecting from one.’
‘The character Muddles was the funniest character throughout, every single thing he said or every move, was simply perfect as he portrayed the court jester in contrast to the Wicked Queen.’ ‘In the terms of family entertainment the musical selections are well thought out, not to mention beautifully performed.’
‘All around us people were laughing so hard they were shaking.’
‘The children in the audience were enjoying it too even if a lot of the more risqué humour went over their heads’ they mainly enjoyed the shouting and joining in.
‘His brightly Coloured costumes are so over the top and visually resplendent with huge hooped skirts, crazy patterns, plenty of sparkle and the most amazing hardware.’
Pantomime.
“Good morning Britain hosted a spirited debate on wether Panto could be considered misogynistic and problematic.”
After Aladdin got cancelled because of cultural insensitivity, Ben Shephard and Charlotte Hawkins hosted a debate on November 18th between author, Gifty Enright and singer, Ben Ofoedu.
Enright had said while pantomimes are a valued tradition “The danger with traditions is; if it’s not updated and modernised, it becomes a relic, it becomes obsolete and irrelevant.” Which is saying it has been around along time and is now out of date and not relevant or serving people anymore.
she continued to say “Panto has been around for two centuries and when it started in the Victorian times it was actually radical, it was disruptive and it was subversive”
She was emphasising that originally pantomime served a much different purpose, but could now appear misogynistic.
Enright also said, “two hundred years on… attitudes have changed, we’ve moved on and then there’s a small problematic of the fairytales. If we’re looking at women, if we’re looking at gender stereotypes most of the stories are around heteronormative behaviour.” Enright said there’s a risk of the traditional “Panto dame” being considered as “transphobic” by some.
Ofoedu, current Panto actor, disagreed that pantos could be considered misogynistic or transphobic.
Expressing how he thinks Panto is diverse he said “The heteronormative behaviour – I mean panto is the most fluid thing. The principal boy is usually played by a girl, so Peter Pan is usually played by a girl and the dame is always played by a bloke, so it’s gender fluid in that kind of way.” He also says “There’s no real stereotype in a panto, it’s just fun, it’s all imagination.” “There’s no race culture in there, there’s no religion culture, my brother could be black or could be white, he could be Asian – it’s make believe.”
Fans of good morning Britain became angry and argued the idea of pantos no longer being appropriate was “nonsense” most viewers actually agreed with Ofoedus opinion. Viewers took to social media to share their outrage by the suggestion that traditional pantomimes should be altered or cancelled due to cultural insensitivity.
https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/11/18/good-morning-britain-panto/
Some of these fans completely disagree with what Enright had said. They have replied to her saying things like “Panto is usually and affordable traditional fun family get together.”
“pantos are a bit of fun, for kids and for adults. Soon there won’t be anything to do for fear of offending someone.”
“It’s harmless fun, If you don’t like panto don’t go.”
viewers voiced their thoughts on Enrights opinions by saying that panto is inclusive and it’s one of the places we can go and have a laugh.
Others have said they’re gender neutral and multi racial and that Enright is talking absolute nonsense, “How can a dame be transphobic?” People can view dames as transphobic as it is a character playing a different gender for others to laugh at.
In my opinion there is a real problem with this world where most trans people if not all will go through some sort of transphobia weather it’s being murdered for who they are or being bullied for who they are it happens so often that trans people can not feel safe being themselves so I can understand what Enright is saying. But I also agree with Ofoedu because panto is a very fluid thing it is genderfluid in the kind of way that women get to play male roles and males get to play women roles so it shows there’s no real stereotype in panto. I also agree with some of the reviews like it is a bit of fun for children and some adults and that soon there won’t be anything to do for fear of offending someone.
Sound.
Sound plays a big and important role in the success of any great theatre production. It is a big factor of our lives is sound, you will hear it anywhere you go there are rarely any moments of silence. Background noise that we hear in real life is what we call soundscapes in theatre. Soundscapes can be used in recreating a location, time and cultural context. It can reflect social, historical and climactic context to show a deliberate and thoughtful story being expressed to the audience. When recreating a theatrical piece sound designers give a significant amount of thought to the location, time period, genre, and venue of the performance. The right combination of sounds can create fear and suspense, while others can influence an audience to feel excited and slower tempos can sadden us and heavy beating drums can suggest tragedy. Various music and sound effects at specific moments can heighten the mood and atmosphere. Also with realistic effects like, gunshots, door bells and telephones, sounds can clearly alert audiences about what to expect in the upcoming moments onstage. It is clear that sound plays a critical role in enhancing the overall experience of any theatrical performance.