Pantomimes and gender

The final rehearsal proper was yesterday and the dress rehearsal for the pantomime is tomorrow evening. For the second year in a row I have been cast as the dame. That is not exactly true, it was more like I was told which role I was getting. I do understand why. In a small community it is not necessarily easy to get someone to become a temporary transvestite and make a complete prat of themselves. The worst thing for me is shaving off my beard. The facial fuzz / chin pubes have been a part of my face for almost twenty years, and has become a part of my self-image. I just shaved off the beard and I don’t recognise myself in the mirror. Now, I ought to make clear that playing the dame is in no way a piece of female impersonation. The idea is to have a man dressed as a completely unconvincing woman. Even a young child should be able to recognise the character on the stage as a man dressed as a woman. Female impersonators, like Danny la Rue made terrible dames. It is the nature of pantomime that the cross-dressing characters should never be convincing. Sometimes the ‘Leading Boy’ part is played by a young woman, but should have great legs and an impressive bust, in order to look good in tights and jerkin. I don’t think I have seen a panto in the past decade where the leading boy was a girl, but it used to be common. Anyhow, here is me as the dame in last year’s panto. I shall take some photos at the dress rehearsal and post them up before the first performance.

 

Do you like the false eyelashes?

Pantomime Dame

Today is the first performance of our village pantomime. This year it is ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. This is a traditional fairy tale, and most pantomimes use these traditional tales as the basis of the plot. The Pantomime as we know it dates from the early nineteenth century, but has roots in the old Italian Comedia del Arte.

One of the features of these productions is the appearance of stock characters. These include a clown, a two dimensional villain, a man dressed as a woman and a girl/woman dressed as a man. The most iconic of these is the pantomime dame, the man dressed as a woman. This is not a case of using a female impersonator. It should be obvious to even the youngest member of the audience that the character portrayed is a man in a dress.

Please do not ask me to hazard a guess as to the significance of the role in British society. No psycho-babble please! It has just become a tradition. So, not minding making a prat of myself I have shaved off my beard and am donning a dress tonight. Last year it was our village shopkeeper, also bearded, who appeared as the dame. As that pantomime was based around a circus he was offered the job of bearded woman by the ringmaster!

Anyway, enjoy the photos!