Pantomime
Term 2
What is a Pantomime?
1) Communication by means of gesture and
facial expression
2) A dramatic entertainment, originating in
Roman mime, in which performers
express meaning through gestures
accompanied by music
What storyline does a Panto
normally follow?
• Normally, a pantomime is an adapted
fairytale so it is usually a magical love
story which involves something going
wrong (usually the fault of an evil baddy)
but the ending (often after a fight between
good and evil) is always happy and results
in true love.
The characters in a Panto
• Like fairytales, pantomimes always include
‘stock characters’
• The next few slides detail the typical kinds
of characters that you will find in a Panto.
The female love interest
• Often comes from a poor
family
• She is always beautiful and
kind
• She often tries to help people
• She’s always dreaming
about true love and she
marries the prince in the end
The Handsome Prince
• The Prince is always
rich and brave
• He always falls in
love with the
beautiful girl
• He always wins the
fight with the evil
baddy
The Evil Character
• This character takes many
forms it can be any of the
following:
- an evil baron
- a mad scientist
- a hideous beast
- a wicked stepmother
- can you think of any others?
• Throughout the show, the evil
character will try and out do the
good characters but they
always get beaten in the end.
• The audience normally boo or
hiss when this character comes
onto the stage.
The Faithful Sidekick
• The sidekick is either
the best friend of the
girl or the prince
• He always helps the
good side to win over
the evil side
• He is often a funny
character who makes
friends with the
audience and makes
them laugh
The Pantomime Dame
• The Dame is always
played by a man and is
a comedy character
• In most Pantomimes the
Dame is the mother of
the girl or the prince,
however, in Cinderella,
there are always two
dames and they are the
ugly sisters
• The Dame normally has
a catchphrase which the
audience shouts to them
when they see them
• All of the audience are
supposed to love the
Dame
What features do all Pantomime’s
include?
• Comedy – often involving slapstick comedy in particular
• Audience participation throughout often with a ‘house song’ at the
end
• Songs – most of the characters in a pantomime will and sing a song
and there are also big chorus numbers
• All pantomimes have a large chorus who play the village people and
any other small roles needed – the chorus are always required to
sing and dance
• Panto’s often contain the famous catchphrases of, ‘he’s behind
you!’ and ‘Oh no you didn’t’ – ‘Oh yes we did’.
Assessment for learning: Can you
answer the following questions?
1) Can you name three characters that are
usually in a Panto
2) Can you name two things that usually
happen in a Panto storyline?
3) Can you name three typical features of a
Panto?
4) Pantomimes are usually adapted……..
Fill in the gap!
Answer Sheet
1. They are fairy tale hero and bad guy
2. In Pantomime the villain come and try to
destroy something so hero comes and help
people
3. There are rich, poor, kind, and bad person
4. Adapted in hero and bad guy