Q 01/05

What do pantomime audiences shout when a ghost creeps up unseen on the dame and the comic?

A) Watch your back!

B) Turn around now!

C) Look out above!

D) He's behind you!

Answer · why

D) He's behind you!

'He's behind you!' is built on the bench gag: the dame and the comic sit singing a cheerful song to forget their fears while a ghost circles behind th...

Q 02/05

Who traditionally plays the pantomime dame, the over-the-top matriarch in big hair and heavy make-up?

A) A veteran actress

B) A man in drag

C) A teenage girl

D) A circus clown

Answer · why

B) A man in drag

A man in drag has played the dame since the part took shape in the 19th century, and the costume parade that George Lacy is credited with inventing ca...

Q 03/05

Who, by a tradition that grew from laws restricting child actors, plays the pantomime principal boy?

A) A leading man

B) A young woman

C) A character actress

D) A male dancer

Answer · why

B) A young woman

A young woman in tights and thigh boots played the hero for over a century, though the thigh-slapping principal boy has all but vanished. Peter Pan bo...

Q 04/05

By a convention from medieval mystery plays, from which side does the pantomime villain enter?

A) Stage left

B) Stage right

C) Upstage

D) Downstage

Answer · why

A) Stage left

Stage left stood for Hell in the medieval mystery plays, so the villain enters there while the good fairy comes in from stage right, the side of Heave...

Q 05/05

On which day did Victorian pantomimes customarily open, binding the form to the family Christmas?

A) Christmas Eve

B) New Year's Day

C) Twelfth Night

D) Boxing Day

Answer · why

D) Boxing Day

Boxing Day was opening night, and at Drury Lane a Victorian pantomime then ran from Christmas to Easter, with stars heading a cast of more than 40.