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It's Behind You! - The Story of Panto
New Holland Publishers
144 pages
£19.99
Dateline: 28th October, 2004
Anyone who reads the first third of It's Behind You! will probably
never look at a pantomime in the same way again. Peter Lathan's book
is a celebration of this peculiarly English art form. As he puts it,
"Panto is a mad, mad world but it gets to you".
If the author's name sounds familiar, the biography at the front confirms
that he is indeed the editor of British Theatre Guide.
The book starts with a history that shows that the roots of panto go
very deep. Influences start with the Ancient Greeks and Romans and later
on, Italian Commedia dell'Arte and French Comedy helped us to
where we are today.
Once sources for stories are mined, China, Persia and the fairy tales
of Charles Perrault and the Grimms spread the geographical net even
wider.
Rather than a ragbag mix of low comedy performed by talentless big
names, this really is an art form in a strong tradition, even if of
a somewhat unusual kind.
The book starts with history. As well as the ancients and the foreigners,
it focuses on theatres and protagonists from the last few hundred years.
Foremost on stage are the likes of Dan Leno who invented the Dame, and
the clowning Grimaldis. Behind the scenes, impresarios such as the Riches,
who often combined producing, writing and acting, and prolific writers
like H.J. Byron were instrumental in making pantomime what it is today.
The second section identifies key generic roles such as dame and principal
boy and selects masters and mistresses of the parts. It is odd that
while dames tend to be male, but not always, principal boys vary with
the weather. The Victorians liked girls so that they could gawp at legs,
but in the last century, men were common and now the split is fairly
even.
The tradition of bringing in celebrities is well-established and started
with music hall stars like Harry Lauder and Marie Lloyd, followed by
comedians like Arthur Askey. Nowadays, actors, pop stars, sportsmen
and disgraced politicians all prove popular.
It is amazing who else has appeared in pantomimes. We know that Sir
Ian McKellen is having a go for Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic this year
and would not be surprised to see Cliff Richard, Cilla Black or even
Frank Bruno but Lathan features unexpected stars such as Ben Jonson,
Charles Dickens and the Windsors: Elizabeth, Margaret - and Barbara.
The last part takes the Top 5 pantomimes, currently led by Aladdin,
and analyses the plot, history and significant performances of each.
The book is well written and has very high production qualities. It
is though, indisputably of the coffee-table variety. As well as the
narrative there are abundant quantities of photographs, often with a
North-Eastern bias, and illustrations, together with many short articles
and even the odd interview.
This subject may not be to everyone's taste and is unlikely to appeal
to highbrow types. However, if you know someone with an interest in
pantomimes or theatre and performance this will make an ideal Christmas
present.
Philip Fisher
You can buy "It's Behind You!" from our
Bookshop
(in association with Amazon) at £13.99
Articles Indices:
Articles from 2004
Articles from 2003
Articles from 2002
Articles from 2001
Articles from 2000
Articles from 1999
Articles from 1998
Articles from 1997
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