Primary Times Leicestershire October 2018
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<strong>Primary</strong> <strong>Times</strong> <strong>Leicestershire</strong><br />
It’s all<br />
about<br />
Pantomimes<br />
Families<br />
get creative!<br />
LE1 7HA 0116 252 2455<br />
FREE workshops at<br />
Attenborough Arts<br />
Free Saturday Workshops<br />
during exhibitions<br />
1pm - 3pm<br />
Free Diwali Extravaganza<br />
Saturday 10 November,<br />
11am - 2pm<br />
Suitable for all ages<br />
Free entry to our galleries<br />
Free weekend parking<br />
www.attenborougharts.com<br />
Giggle and laugh together with<br />
Family theatre at Attenborough Arts!<br />
Free weekend parking!<br />
Windibops (ages 4+)<br />
Sunday 4 November, 1pm and 3pm<br />
Hey Diddle Diddle (ages 3+)<br />
Saturday 24 November, 11am and 2pm<br />
Baby Disco (ages 0 - 6)<br />
Sunday 9 December, 11am, 1pm, 2.30pm<br />
Bring Your Own Baby Comedy<br />
(adults with babies in arms)<br />
Wednesday 12 December, 12pm<br />
Tickets £5 - £10 plus family deals!<br />
Pantomimes are a wonderful annual tradition for many<br />
families in the UK, providing slapstick comedy and<br />
topical humour to entertain every age. The performances<br />
are almost always based on popular children’s stories<br />
and fairy tales, and are held in a wide variety of venues,<br />
from prestigious theatres to local town and village halls<br />
across Britain. Pantomimes tend to be more playful<br />
and comical than regular theatre, and involve eccentric<br />
costumes, musical numbers, audience participation, and<br />
a happy ending in every show.<br />
Although less strictly followed today, traditionally a<br />
number of the main roles were gender swapped. The<br />
Dame is an older female character in pantomime, often<br />
the hero’s mother, who regularly wears the most bizarre<br />
and garish outfits, and to this day is almost always played<br />
by a man. The gender swapping between the principal<br />
boy and girl is followed less frequently in more recent<br />
years, but traditionally these would also be notable<br />
features of the performances.<br />
One of the most popular additions to British pantomime<br />
shows are the celebrity cast members. They both help to<br />
draw in crowds for the theatres, and provide audiences<br />
with the opportunity to see their favourite stars taking<br />
part in over-the-top, farcical<br />
comedy guaranteed to have<br />
them roaring with laughter.<br />
The type of humour we know<br />
in pantomimes today was<br />
first introduced in 1843 when<br />
the Theatres Act was lifted<br />
and allowed all theatres<br />
the use of spoken word<br />
in their performances.<br />
Witty puns, word play,<br />
and audience<br />
participation<br />
began to be<br />
introduced<br />
by writers<br />
at the time,<br />
and these<br />
are still some<br />
of the main<br />
factors to the<br />
modern British<br />
pantomime<br />
providing fun,<br />
feel-good shows<br />
for all ages!<br />
20<br />
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER <strong>2018</strong> | www.primarytimes.co.uk/<strong>Leicestershire</strong>
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