Panto Day was last Friday. Yes, it was.
It was intended to honor this country’s 300-year-old pantomime tradition.
University of Staffordshire launched what it claims is the first degree of panto.
Students can start a one-year MA program in Contemporary Pantomime Practice starting September.
What do you know about this pedigree?
Roland White is the master of panto puzzles.
This month, as Britain celebrates Panto Day, Jack and the Beanstalk will be performed at the Hackney Empire.
1. Pantomime is Latin for “pantomime”, which means:
A: An actor in a dumb program.
A: An actor that can perform multiple roles.
C: A actor without trousers.
D: An comedy that has minimal laughs.
2. Parachuting in the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics 2012 was Queen Elizabeth’s most well-known act. But which role did the queen play at Windsor Castle, 1943?
A: A charming prince. Because of wartime scarcity, she had to.
B: Mother Goose. As Queen Mother Goose is called in royal circles.
C: One among the seven dwarfs. However, it is not Dopey.
D: Aladdin who can access a vast space filled with great treasures.
The Queen and Princess Margaret dress in 1943. But what was the role of the Royal at Windsor Castle?
3. Theatre tradition dictates that you should avoid certain things at panto rehearsals.
A: Allowing the dames to wear their wigs.
B: Singing loudly the name Buttons
C: Speak the last two lines of the panto.
D: Mention the title of the panto.
4. What panto-loving character was Pedro Chips, Alfonso and Chips?
Buttoni was the first person to see Buttons.
B: Peter Pan also called Pedro Pan.
C: Cinderella’s Prince Charming.
D: Sleeping Beauty’s Prince.
5. What pantomime stars Tootles and Curly?
A: Aladdin. They’re junior genies.
B: Peter Pan. They’re the Lost Boys.
Dick Whittington. They’re kittens.
D: Goldilocks and The Three Bears. They’re the bears who failed to make the casting stage for the final three.
Faye Campbell is Cinderella at the York Theatre’s last dress rehearsals.
6. The mid-19th-century tea brand that was cheaply brewed the tea gave rise to this panto name.
A: Aladdin’s Widow Twankey. Is she Mrs Lapsang or should she be?
B: Aladdin’s Wishee-Washee — clearly a cup of weak builders’.
C: Aladdin’s Abanazar is an aromatic green tea.
D: Tiger Lily, an organic and sustainable brew brewed from Peter Pan.
7. Gnaupot is his Danish name. He’s Brontolo, in Italy. He is Butter in Sweden. In English, he is called Butter.
A: Cinderella’s Baron Hardup.
B: Grumpy Snow White. The advert almost said, “I don’t believe that he is Butter.”
C: The Beast. From Beauty And The Beast.
D: The Giant. Jack And The Beanstalk.
Wade Lewin plays the Beast and Alice Rose Fletcher is Belle during the performance of Beauty and the Beast at Poole
8. Panto descends from the commedia dill’arte. This is an improvised comedy based upon stock characters, which was popularized in 16th century Italy. What was the commedia-character?
A: Pantalone is a stripped-down character with no Y-fronts.
Pierrot Hercule was the great detective of Italian media.
C: Il Dottore — sounds like one of the Italian seven dwarfs.
D: Il Bigone, is this a type or spaghetti?
9. What made children become dwarfs during a 2011 controversial production of Snow White at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre?
A: The lack of appropriate actors was the problem (pun intended).
B: It was too costly to hire actors who were the right height.
C: To draw attention to the dire situation of short actors, professionals refused to accept the roles.
D: Protesters claimed that Snow White was a stereotyped representation of people who are short. Also stepmothers.
10. What role played Ed Balls in the Young Actors Theatre, Islington as a Labour Cabinet Minister in 2015?
A: The former shadow chancellor, Baron Hardup.
B: Dick Whittington. A cat who would be able to do better work than recent London mayors.
Jacob Marley, in A Christmas Carol. George Osborne is the Austerity Chancellor, a more probable role.
D: Daddy Bear In Goldilocks.
The Christmas pantomime, “Old mom red riding boots”, at Windsor Castle features Princess Margaret with an actor.
11. Which Captain Hook ship is it called?
A: Jolly Roger. Hook isn’t exactly jolly.
B: The Black Heart. Hookie’s hearts are darker than Hookie’s.
C: The Never Never as it was purchased on the never-never.
D: The Crocodile’s Revenge — a dance which will presumably be filmed on TikTok.
12. How does Cinderella get the unsightly sisters from the Grimm fairytale Cinderella version?
A: They have a happy ending.
B: The pair launch a successful shoe company in the glass industry, with the slogan “There is no business like a shoe business”.
C: A pigeon has their eyes removed. They are right.
D: These men are employed in the kitchens of the prince.
13. Is it possible to find out where the Babes In The Wood were abandoned in the original folk tale. (Sorry for the inaccuracy of the ‘The Wood’ mark.
A: The Black Forest.
B: Small wood located near Norwich.
C: The New Forest.
D: The Foret de Gros Bois is located in France’s Auvergne region.
14. What is Mother Goose’s name for the goose?
A: Goldie. How else can you describe the goose that lays the golden eggs?
B: Daphne.
C: Priscilla. (as in Priscilla Queen of the Panto).
D: Henrietta. If anyone were to call a goose Hen, what would they say?
15. In the film version, Antonio Banderas starred as Kitty Softpaws. Salma Hayek played Kitty Softpaws. Mike Mitchell was Andy Beanstalk.
A: Pussy in Boots.
B: Aladdin.
Dick Whittington.
D: Jack And The Beanstalk.
16. Alice Fitzwarren married who?
A: Baron Hardup who was with her at the Prince’s ball.
B: Dick Whittington. Alice was Alice’s child.
C: Friar Tuck, swept off his feet in Robin Hood — and Tuck would take a lot of sweeping.
D: Captain Smee, from Peter Pan. Every girl loves a good sailor.
17. Christopher Biggins was first to appear in panto in 1965. But in what role?
A: Aladdin’s apprentice to the genie.
B: Dick Whittington, a rat.
C: Baby Bear, Goldilocks.
D: A pumpkin in Cinderella.
Chrisopher Biggins is Mother Goose
18. The old joke about Dick Whittington’s beard is why?
Q: He’s just a hair-to-be tomorrow type of person.
B: To remind the man of his intimate shave and poverty.
C: He was having a terrible mayor’s day.
D: Eight out of ten cats love whiskers
19. What was the name of Peter Pan’s friends in Neverland, The Lost Boys?
A: It was urchins Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie saw in London.
B. Their nanny failed to notice that they were out of the pram.
C: Peter had taken their lost pocket money and they were now looking for a Neverland of opportunities.
D: They found adventure and deliberately lost their parents.