English pantomime...wah? Has the Grouch lost his mind completeley now? So there I was flat on my back at 20,000ft...no wait a minute, that's what they said in WW2.
Actually there I was flat on my back on the living room floor doing my exercises when for some reason I flashed back to a Christmas many years ago when the Missus and the young ones and I went to a theater to see a unique brand of live English theater called a pantomime. This was a hilarious one man version of the Wizard of Oz that involved hand puppets, audience participation, songs, and some mild double entrende. At the time I thought it was just a very funny show until several years later when listening to NPR radio they had a piece about English pantomime and I thought 'that's what we saw!' and promptly forgot all about it....until tonight. The phrase pantomime popped into my head, I jumped up from the exercise floor (ok I rolled over, got slowly to my knees and stood up creaking like a windjammer in a storm), hobbled to the computer and typed in English pantomime and learned all about it again! In case anyone else wants to be educated, here is a link to a Wikipedia entry about it
If you ever hear about a Christmas pantomime showing near you, don't hesitate, don't delay, get your ticket and go!
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Do they have English panto in the US? I've looked for a long time and never seen one advertised anyehere. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is around, we saw it in the L.A. area about 20 years ago. It was the funniest live theater I have ever seen!
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