Robin Hood, Prince of Panto?
Actor Mark Lazar finds it tricky to describe The People's Light and Theatre's new show, Robin Hood, an American Panto. He knows he's donning a dress to play the freshly penned character of Robin Hood's old lady, Mistress Maud. And he's prepped himself for the booing, cheering and singing that will come about due to the lack of an actor/audience wall. Still, two of the few words that come to his mind are "Abbott" and "Costello." Where is the next generation of vaudeville goons, by the way?
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Those two comedians may not be as sealed into the tomb of bygone performance styles as one might think. Judging by this fairy tale/variety show combination, it would seem vaudeville is more than alive and breathing, it's bellowing from behind a curtain and prancing out in fancy drag finery in the form of Lazar's "Dame" character.
Panto — that's short for pantomime, right? Not exactly, according to Kathryn Petersen, the playwright behind Robin Hood, as well as last year's Jack & the Beanstalk. "People have such different connotations when they hear pantomime," she says, citing the mute guys in white gloves. "This is its own animal."
After longtime People's Light audience member and native Englishman Gary Smith brought panto to their attention, Petersen and Lazar both committed themselves to understanding the creature, studying plotlines, casting techniques and comedic tactics during separate panto tours through the motherland. From what they could glean — and with an ever-evolving, multifaceted tradition it's difficult to definitively glean — British panto has been wildly popular for more than a century on the island, drawing on Greek comedy, Roman mime and commedia dell'arte. It's most often based on fairy tales and integrates music, dance and slapstick.
"It's just silliness. It's so difficult to describe, but once you're doing it or seeing it, you understand. It goes a long way toward explaining where Monty Python and British humor in general comes from," Lazar says.
Director David Bradley argues panto has American relatives as well. While Petersen updates and localizes the Robin Hood story we all know and love (transforming Sherwood Forest to Chester County and referring to Philadelphia Shire and the local "Tar-zhay"), he says the performance style is akin to classic Warner Bros. cartoons and television variety shows peopled by late greats like Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason, not to mention Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
Bradley points to this classic tale as being particularly appropriate for a show this side of the Atlantic. "Robin Hood is a great story to do for panto because it's got its icons. It's already been sort of turned around, and it's ripe for the form."
Robin Hood, an American Panto, Nov. 22-Dec. 31, $28-$48, People's Light & Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, 610-644-3500, www.peopleslight.org.
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