HANDS UP

English pantomime owes its origins to Commedia dell’arte, presented by travelling players in 16^th century Italy. It was a very physical type of theatre that used dance, music, tumbling, acrobatics, and buffoonery (good word!).

Commedia gave us the term slapstick, which comes from the "batacchio", or "bataccio", a flexible pair of paddles fastened together with a spacer at one end. It was literally a stick for slapping. Actors could strike a blow to a person with a loud clapping sound but without causing any physical damage. Of course, as Sir Isaac Newton so accurately put it, “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction… “ So, the actor being whacked, must react accordingly, to punch the gag.

In the 17^th century, the Commedia characters Arlecchino (Harlequin), Columbina (Columbine), Pedrolino (Pierrot), Pantalone (Pantaloon) and Clown, found their way into the English harlequinade. The great Joseph Grimaldi expanded the role of Clown, and the rest, as they say, is hysterical.

However, the most famous character to emerge from Commedia dell’arte, at least as far as those of us based in Blighty are concerned, is Pulcinella, whose name was anglicised to Punchinello, and then abbreviated to Punch.

On the 9^th of May 1662, Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary, that he enjoyed "...an Italian puppet play that is within the rayles there, which is very pretty, the best that ever I saw..." So, Mr. Punch, the prince of puppets, the manifestation of the Lord of Misrule, and Trickster figures of deep-rooted mythologies, has survived for over 350 years, despite the invention of the cinema, television, computer games, and political correctness. Long may he continue!

Which brings me to The Muppets, who have carried on the tradition of both slapstick and Mr. Punch. My regular reader will know of my affection and admiration for these premier puppet performers and their style of humour. Way back in June 2011, when I started this blog, I referred to a journalist who reviewed my version of ‘Ali Baba’, and  described it as “… infectious anarchy… “ I was as chuffed as the aforementioned Mr. Punch. I hadn’t deliberately set out to achieve that result, it just came out in the wash... so to speak. There were probably quite a few influences that brought me to that point… the Marx Brothers, the Goons, Frank Randle, Mad Magazine, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Black Adder, and most assuredly The Muppets. However, from then on, I decided that if I thought it was funny, it could go into a pantomime.

I came across some quotes from the English-born James Bobin who directed the 2011 film, ‘The Muppets’. He says…

“They are so strong as characters, so fantastic. All we need to do is be true to what they were originally true to."

“It was just still nice to know that there was something still left out there that kids could find funny without adult humour that adults could find funny too.”

And, from a review of the film on the GIZMODO  website…

“It would be easy to ruin the Muppets: Just make them modern.”

“‘The Muppets’ is very much, an island out of place in time.”

“But while it makes nods to the present day, it doesn't use our time as a plot mechanism.“

I couldn’t have put it better… and I’ve been putting it for some time about pantomime!

If you want to learn how to do pantomime, you could do a lot worse that look at The Muppets. 

Here's some Muppet mayhem and merriment. Sucre bleu!