Freeze frames

In this lesson, students discuss pantomimes they have seen, mentioning what the acting, set and audience were like. In small groups, they create spider diagrams of the essential ingredients of pantomime and the theatrical conventions associated with it. After the feedback from this, they form small groups and tell the story of one of the main pantomimes in a series of freeze frames including all main characters and events.

Objectives

• To develop an understanding of the genre of pantomime.
• To participate in small and large group discussions.
• To identify the main elements of a pantomime.

Starter

Start a whole group discussion on ‘What is pantomime?’. Be aware that some students may never have seen a pantomime. If you have a video of a pantomime, then show extracts of this.

Have you seen a pantomime? What were the acting, set, costumes, storyline, audience like?

Response

Ask students to form small groups. In their groups they should create a spider diagram charting the essential ingredients of pantomime and its theatrical conventions. Encourage students to consider audience interaction, big costumes and make-up, stock characters, a fairytale story, good vs evil, happy endings and exaggerated acting. The following handout can be used as a starting point:

Pantomime: Spider diagram

Ask each group to feed back to the whole class. You could create an A3 version of the handout above and include comments from the whole class on it, then keep it on display for this lesson.

What does a pantomime contain?

Development

Ask students to form groups of five or six. The students should choose a pantomime story and create a series of freeze frames identifying the key moments in it. You may wish to mention some pantomimes to help them choose, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Mother Goose or Jack and the Beanstalk.

What is happening in the pantomime? Who are the characters? How can you show these characters? What are the key moments and how can you show these?

Extension task

Plenary

Show and evaluate some of the work. Finish with a whole group discussion on the following questions:

Who are the characters? How do you know this? Is the storyline clear?

Homework

Ask students to research pantomime and record their findings on the following sheet:

Pantomime: Researching pantomime

Alternatively, students could complete the following unscrambling task about common pantomime characters:

Pantomime: What a pantomime!

The answers are as follows (from top to bottom): Buttons, Aladdin, Cinderella, Dandini, Prince Charming, The Genie of the Lamp, Widow Twanky, Dick Whittington, Fairy Godmother, Babes in the Wood.