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  1. A pantomime is a popular genre of family Christmas theatre in the UK based on fairy or folk tales. Pantomimes (or “pantos” for short) take a traditional story such as Cinderella or Peter Pan and turn it into a bright and bold musical comedy that includes songs, dancing, slapstick humour and lots of audience participation.
    seatplan.com/backstage/what-is-a-pantomime/
    It generally combines gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale.
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomime
    Panto story lines and scripts typically make no reference to Christmas, and are almost always based on traditional children’s stories, including several written or popularized by the French pioneer of the fairy tale genre, Charles Perrault, as well as others based on the English tales collected by Joseph Jacobs.
    britishplayers.org/about-pantomime/
    Today, pantomimes include songs, gags, slapstick comedy, dancing and special effects. It employs gender-crossing actors and combines topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folktale.
    www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/complete-guide-to-pant…
    Pantomime derives from forms of solo Greek theatre and, subsequently, the popular 16th-century Italian artform Commedia dell’Arte, which saw popular stories – in modern pantomime, these are usually versions of fairy tales – performed by a collection of staple comic characters.
    officiallondontheatre.com/news/beginners-guide-pa…
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  3. The story of pantomime - V&A

  4. 'It's behind you': A brief history of pantomime

    Pantomime initially developed from an Italian theatrical discipline. In the 16th century, pantomime was born from commedia dell’arte, a Renaissance Italian street-theatre genre. Performances brought together laugh-out-loud slapstick …

  5. The Pantomime – understanding this British festive …

    Dec 20, 2018 · The British Pantomime as we know it originated in England during the 16 th century, and was inspired by the commedia dell’arte tradition …

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    • The History of Pantomime

      Pantomimes take place around the Christmas period and are nearly always based on well known children’s stories such as Peter Pan, Aladdin, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty etc. Pantomimes are performed not only in the best theatres …

    • 5 Pantomime Elements: Pantomime Definition and …

      Mar 4, 2022 · Learn more about pantomime and how it evolved. Although many use the words “pantomime” and “mime” as synonyms, there are key differences between the two. For instance, it’s a common misunderstanding that a …

    • The History (and Future) of Pantomime - Historian …

      Lots of different forms of theatre can be said to have influenced the earliest pantomimes such as the medieval Mummersplays and the masques of the Royal courts, but it was in the sixteenth century that we can see the …

    • The Story Behind the Great British Pantomime

      Dec 20, 2021 · To outsiders, it must seem absolutely bonkers, but the great British pantomime has been drawing crowds for centuries. This uniquely British phenomenon is rooted in Italian commedia dell’arte, with influences from …

    • The story of pantomime – Association of Community …

      Pantomime has its roots in ‘Commedia dellArte’, a 16th-century Italian entertainment which used dance, music, tumbling, acrobatics and featured a cast of mischievous stock characters. Harlequin was the quick-witted miscreant …

    • History of Pantomime - Imagine Theatre

      When looking back into the past to find the origins of pantomime most look to the Italian commedia dellarte which originated in the sixteenth century and was a form of outdoor theatre with performers playing stock, masked characters.