It’s that time of year again: the air is getting colder, the nights are getting longer and around the country theatre dames are digging out their make up, dusting off their gaudy frocks and getting ready for their annual cross-dressing extravaganza.

Look out for Panto!… It’s behind you!

With the perennially popular Christmas art form looming just around the corner, we take a look at the history and traditions of this peculiarly British practice.

The roots of pantomime stretch as far back as the middle ages and are based firmly in the tradition of the ‘Medieval Morality Plays’. These simple productions were put on by minstrels and traveling companies and often centred around strong religious or ethical conundrums that were acted out before gathered community audiences. Throw into the mix a little influence from the Commedia Dell’Arte (an early theatrical tradition from the central and northern regions of Italy) and you’ve got yourself the beginnings of a winning carnivalesque cocktail.

The first time the term “pantomime” properly pops up is thought to be in the 18th Century. The Loves of Mars and Venus billed itself as a ‘ballet-pantomime’ in 1717 and the name just sort of stuck. Not the ‘ballet’ part, naturally, I suppose that was too busy being used to describe, well, ballet.

This moral/comic genre really began to take off in the late Georgian period and it’s here that we find panto’s most famous clown. Joseph Grimaldi first performed on stage in 1800 and was so popular that he reinvented the entire spectacle. Running riot at the theatres of Sadler’s Wells and Drury Lane, Grimaldi pioneered the use of slapstick humour and even the tradition’s inherent penchant for a touch of the old cross-dressing.

Mad on dressing up like a girl, Grimaldi received rave reviews for his performance of ‘Dame Cecily Suet’ in Harlequin Wittington (no prizes for guessing which present day pantomime that turned in to!) and ‘Queen Rondabellyana’ in Harlequin and the Red Dwarf… which was a surprise sci-fi hit amongst audiences of the early 19th Century… It wasn’t really, it was genuinely about a red dwarf.

That, in fact, brings me rather neatly onto another famous aspect of panto: ready?

Me: It is a very important aspect of panto isn’t it children? It is isn’t it!? Oh yes it is!!

Audience: Oh no it isn’t!

Always a winner. Perhaps though, the most interesting thing about this rather irreverent shouting out is that no one’s entirely sure where it comes from. It is, seemingly, just one of those things. In fact, I remember whilst watching my first pantomime (Michaela Strachan as ‘Peter Pan’ it was) and getting most distressed by the other children being so rude as to call out during the performance. What a little idiot I was.

Anyway, though pantomime clearly has a long and detailed tradition, it always must retain an air of the times. In fact, you could say that one of pantomime’s principal traditions is to keep it modern. Costumes and character types are often grotesque parodies of the prevailing fashion and there are always jokes about stars and celebrities that were popular at the time. In fact, I’m sure the thousands of pantomimes that are about to stretch themselves up and down the country are going to be completely wet through with remarks about Amy Winehouse, or David Beckam, or Pete Doherty or, dare I say it, the credit crunch.

Of course, panto is kind of big business now. With RSC veterans like Sir Ian McKellen taking two seasons at The Old Vic to play ‘Widow Twanky’ and other luvvie luminaries like Simon Callow and Richard Wilson signing up to play cross-dressed characters all over the country, it’s hardly the fodder of provincial has-beens anymore.

Panto, dare I say it, is cool-

Audience: Oh no it isn’t!

Oh it isn’t is it? Well we’ll just see about that!

A charming and timeless tradition, check out The Big Panto Guide to find out about the upcoming pantomimes in your area. I mean, it’s just not Christmas without a load of kids gorging themselves on sweets and shouting at transvestites is it?