Pantomime
Commedia dell’arte tradition meaning ‘comedy of the artists’ which were improv performances took place in the streets of Italy. They used masks to establish characters quickly. This was also as a way of protecting the performers from ridicule so they could make risqué jokes. Pantomime worked its way from Italy to the British theatre. “Think of the combines power of television and the internet and you start to understand the theatre’s reach and influence in the 18th century” (York). The difference between the two were that “the first English Harlequins did not speak” (York). When they first started, they got a lot of controversy for not being legitimate theatre and could cause the downfall of serious theatre. “Pantomime’s absurdity depends on us enjoying this non-existent pretense”(York).
Mermaid scene from Bushell's Production.
“Until 1843, theatre licensing had restricted the use of spoken word in performances”, which was later lifted, allowing any theatre to perform a play with only spoken dialogue (V&A). Pantomime boys and females were often played by members of the opposite sex as part of the essential gag of the characters. Pantomime heavily played into these gags, and you can see some of this in Peter and the Starcatcher with almost the entire company playing mermaids in a small musical number at the top of Act 2. We see some animal impersonation in the show from the Crocodile as animal impersonators also appeared in pantomime. Part of Pantomime was really focused on the elaborate set designs and special effects. Some of these are focused in Peter and the Starcatcher but mostly seen in the props, ie the pineapple that doesn’t break and then breaks at the end. There is also a moment in the show where Molly is seen “flying”. There is another scene in Peter and the Starcatcher where these two big ships are fighting against each other with a “fighting ring” involved. This results in Peter going overboard and Molly saving him.