In winter in Britain, many children and adults enjoy going to the theatre to watch a pantomime. Pantomimes are a very old form of entertainment, but the modern version is as popular as ever. Pantomimes today originate from a type of light, popular, comedy play from 16th Century Italy. Some aspects of modern pantomime date from this time, for example having stock characters who appear in different stories. Pantomimes started to be performed in England in the 17th Century, and it was here that the comedy developed into slapstick - a clownish, physical comedy characterised by people falling over or fighting in a silly way. In the 19th Century, Grimaldi, a famous clown, introduced the tradition of audience participation, a very important aspect of modern pantomime. He established catch phrases, which the audience would respond to by shouting a known response. There are two very well-known catch phrases in modern British pantomime. The first is that a character will pretend not to see his enemy and ask the audience where he is. The audience shout out Look behind you! The second is where a character pretends to have an argument with the audience using phrases like Oh yes I did and Oh no you didnt! Pantomimes are based on folk stories or fairy tales like Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The performances often include songs or music. There are two stock characters who feature in almost every pantomime. The first is thepantomime dame, an older woman such as an aunt, usually played by a man. She usually has an outrageous costume and a bawdy sense of humour. In addition, there is often a male character played by a young woman, called the principal boy. This is usually the hero of the story. The fact that actors are playing roles of the wrong gender is part of the joke. Often, celebrities from the world of TV or pop music take leading roles in pantomimes, or pantos. You will find a pantomime in almost every theatre in Britain in wintertimeOh yes you will! GLOSSARY
词汇表 :pantomime 话剧 originate from 起源于 date from 起始于 stock character 固定角色 slapstick 闹剧, 滑稽戏 clownish 滑稽的 physical comedy 喜剧 clown 小丑 audience participation 观众的参与 catch phrases 口头禅, 套话 character 角色 based on 以为基础, 基于 folk stories 民间故事 fairy tales 神话故事 pantomime dame 话剧的女主角之一, 通常是指年岁较大的那位 played by 由来演 bawdy 淫猥的., 下流的 principal boy 话剧的男主角 actors 演员 celebrities 社会名流
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