The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The history of the pantomime View} reminiscent of mm and Jon. Wendy Subity Nhl and Wayne Hudson trtghtt ham it up as Rob and Bob in UW's production of Jack and Jill, a Christmas pantomime. Pantomime tPantomimus---a Re man actor) goes back to ancient times to the birth of theatre in Greece and Rome. It goes back to the times when Rome was conquering the world and bands of entertainers were sent out to play for the troups. Over the centuries. however. the characters from Italian comedy (Commedia dell'Arte) became the traditional pantomime characters, and its stories changed to continental fairy tales with historical figures mixed in. Pantomime is a hybrid- with all the various popular forms of theatre adding to its "fantastical" form today. Commedia delrArte grew out of the classics, survived through the Middle Ages and finally flowered in the Renaissance. From amateur troupes playing rustic comedies. eventually professional groups were formed Europe Each member had his own dis- tinctive character v the old man. Pantalone from which came Panta- loom the learned pedant Ill Dottorei, the swashbuckling soldier Ill Capi- tan. the Dandy in embryo), It was from among the serving maids and comic servants that Harlequin,and Columbine of the English Harle- quinade derive. Punch (Pulcinello. and the early English Punchinellol vanished from pantomime altogether. but found im- mortality in the English Punch and Judy shows, Commedia dell'Arte set- tled in France from 1570, establish- ing a long tradition which influenced the comedies of Moliere and Mari- vaux. Strangely enough. it was in English pantomime that some of the essential elements of this theatrical mode have survived longer than any- where else? . F, n g I I s h actor-theatre-manager John Rich (b. 1692) brought panto- they travelled all over mime to England. He was greatly in- fluenced by' the Italian theatre. Struggling with theatre polLtics and puritan middle-class morality, he strived to find a popular theatrical vehicle to keep himself in business. He assimilated the traditional Italian characters and popularized the art of pantomime. Still at this time pan- tomime was done in “mime". Other influences were at work too. and all sorts of tricks and theatre "magic" were being introduced. Certain suc- cessful scenes or pieces of "busi- ness" were transplanted from panto- mime to pantomime thus becoming "traditional". Later. when Henry Fielding's t1707-54) political satires for the stage drew the wnath of Sir Robert Walpole and caused the introduction of dramatic censorship. pantomime was more and more used las dumb show was not covered) to attack and satirize. Thus it continued until David Garrick's time. (1717-1779) It was on Boxing Day 1750 that David Garrick started the tradition of pantomime as a Christmas holiday treat. Soon the theatrical world fol- lowed his example and new pantm mimes were always introduced during the Christmas season, although they were often repeated at other times during the year. In 1756. Garrick. as a special novelty, gave Harlequin the gift of speech. It wasn't until much later however. that pantomimes be- gan “to talk“. George Colman in 1780 introduced the change from the classical or mythological to a "fairy tale-plot Then came the famous Joseph Grim- aldi (1779-1837! and the ascendancy of the clown, with Thomas Dibdin and Charles Farley. all contributing to and making changes in the now traditional Christmas entertain- ment, It was Grimaldi who introduced (Continued on page 5l chording to British tradition, lomalo roles in pantomimos on play- ed by men. Maurice Evans keeps this tradition alive in his portrayal of Dame Hogwash in UW's production Jack and Jill.