RAPUNZEL – THE PÄNTO – New English American Theater Stuttgart

“Look Out Behind You”!

PANTOMIME or PANTO for short is a marvelous (if somewhat eccentric ) British institution and a much looked forward to, traditional Christmas event.

The word Pantomime literally means “all kinds” of “mime”.

It began as an entertainment for adults and can be traced back to the ancient Roman ‘Saturnalia’ midwinter feast, at which everything was supposed to be turned upside-down. Men dressed up as women and women as men. Just like the Pantomime Dames (Men comically dressed up as women) and principal boys (young women dressed up as boys, normally the leading role) of the modern day Panto.

During the course of its development, the early masques of the 14^th century, were musical, mime or spoken dramas, usually performed in grand houses, and by the 17th century they were merely an excuse for a costume theme party.

A major influence arrived in the 18th century with the Italian tradition of improvised theatre known as ‘Commedia dell’arte’ – the stories of which had many ‘stock’ characters in them such as clowns and jesters and a despicable villain.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pantomimes were changed quite a lot by the popularity of the music-hall entertainments. The stars of the day, comedians and music hall artistes, often adapted the plot, just so they could do their own normal routines!

Today, Panto is primarily a children’s entertainment show, a popular feature on every theatre’s holiday agenda and is based on Folk Tales, Arabian Nights Stories and Traditional Fairy Tales such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and in our case RAPUNZEL.

Slapstick is yet another important aspect of the Panto as is audience participation. The spectators have to work almost as hard as the performers, whether it be joining in the songs, assisting in conjuring tricks, booing the villain and warning the hero with ‘He’s behind you!’ or cheering them on!

By the end of the Pantomime, the villain has been defeated, true love has conquered all and everyone lives happily ever after.

The NEAT Christmas Panto for 2023 is quite a hairy matter!

Who’s that trapped at the top of a famous television tower? Why, it’s RAPUNZEL, the beautiful princess, who was abducted as a baby by Gothel the Witch and her scary side-kick, Waylon the War-Weasel. But after 18 years, a rescue party has finally arrived (well, too competing rescue parties, actually…).

And so begins an epic journey through the LÄND to bring her home.

Come along and enjoy an outing into good fun and bad puns with musical interludes. Perfectly suited for children and well-behaved adults of all ages.

Featuring – Jasmina Dordevic , Jasmine Thorn, Serena Foschi-Höhne, Cindy Halbert-Seger, Claire Deromelaere, Marina Eisentraut, Susanna Thielecke, Kissy Schulze, Ravi Kanth, Andrew Carey-Yard, Bryan Groenjes, and KIDS! …Lots of KIDS!