The art of the panto dame

There is nothing more panto than a dame. The grandmother of today’s dames is Dan Leno (1860–1904), a champion clog dancer and music-hall performer, not much taller than Ronnie Corbett. He was preceded by others, notably James Rogers, who in 1861, in Aladdin,played a character called Widow Twankey, named after a cheap and revolting tea. But Leno was the first modern prototype dame – a befuddled genius in a frock with a fantastic line in patter. He created the role of Mother Goose in a play written for him by J. Hickory Wood and starred in a legendary run of 16 pantos at Drury Lane that finished him. He died insane and an alcoholic at the age of 43 – a warning to his artistic descendants.

Fast forward to Theatre Royal Plymouth, 1992. Les Dawson is playing Ada the cook in Dick Whittington with russet hair buns and his trademark grimace: ‘Good evening, boys and girls of all ages’… pause while he adjusts a buttock… ‘My piles are killing me.’