A good story – usually an established fairytale or folk tale, often retold in an interesting way. Sometimes the retelling benefits from local additions or nods to local culture, they will often try and reference popular culture or current affairs, and some take stories and try and do something quite different – for example Leeds City Varieties has a recent history of showing ‘rock and roll’ pantomimes. Popular pantomime stories include Cinderella, Dick Whittington and Jack and the Beanstalk. Earlier pantomimes featured other stories that are largely forgotten or would no longer be seen as good family entertainment, such as Bluebeard.
Audience participation – Pantomime audiences usually know they are expected to join in. This can be cheering for the good characters, or shouting Boo or hissing when the evil characters come on stage. There is usually at least one scene where one character can’t find another who is hiding behind them – so the audience shout ‘he’s behind you!’ In some performances children will occasionally be invited on stage, or there is usually a chance for an audience sing-a-long, with one side of the auditorium in competition with the other
Good vs Evil – pantomimes always have a goody and a baddy. The idea is that no matter how difficult life is for the main character, good will triumph over evil. This is also represented by the entrance of certain characters – the good fairy usually enters stage right, with the villain entering stage left, which goes back to the Mummers play tradition where the right represents heaven and the left represents hell.
Gender role reversal – in many pantomimes the ‘principal boy’ is played by a female actress, usually wearing a tight fitting costume designed to draw attention to the female form. One of the most popular characters in pantomime is the ‘Dame’ - usually a character like a mother or an aunt played by an older man wearing large dresses and huge amounts of bright make up.
An ‘adult’ script – although apparently aimed at a younger audience, part of the charm of the pantomime comes from the idea that the scripts can often work on different levels, with a wide range of jokes and comments being aimed at the adults in the audience.
An animal – often a horse or cow, played by one or two actors dressed in a suit. One example is the cow from Jack and the Beanstalk, or Dick Whittington’s cat.
Transformation – the performance usually finishes with everyone getting into their best outfits, often for a wedding, feast or similar celebration. This usually marks the fact that the main character started off with a very difficult life and has ended the story happy and successful. In older pantomimes it was referred to specifically as ‘The transformation scene’, but in more modern pantomimes while it still finishes the performance and fulfils the same purpose, it has lost the name.
