Drawing its sap from the famous Italian commedia dell'arte, the English pantomime is to this day a usual type of entertainment for young and old, especially at Christmas time, when the borderline between the two basic age groups becomes flexible. A spoken event since the mid-18-th century, the panto became an extremely popular dramatic species in Victorian England including music, dancing and jokes, all based on a fairly well-known fairy tale. Today's panto is no less delightful and seems to be growing into a favourite Christmas time amusement again.
