1. Develop your knowledge and understanding of manifestations of contemporary pantomime practice: concepts, histories, traditions, ideas, forms, practices, styles and expressions.
2 Critically and Creatively engage in reading and research appropriate for your negotiated area of study.
3. Identify, locate and work with archival material, applying theoretical concepts and innovative approaches to inform and advance contemporary practice.
4.Critically review and appraise examples of historical and contemporary pantomime practice from a variety of contexts and viewpoints.

Independent research task and seminar presentation: Learning outcomes 1,2,3
Negotiated research project presentation: Learning outcomes 1,2,3,4.

You will begin your study by researching the landscape of current pantomime practice from a variety of different perspectives. This will include surveying differing and diverse approaches to the form from commercially driven productions to those created in repertory and community contexts. You will study, research and identify seminal productions as case studies to evaluate and explore contested perspectives of contemporary pantomime including concepts, ideas, forms, dramaturgy, styles and expressions. You will work with the Programme Course Leader to negotiate and determine your own Learning Contract which may encompass the following areas: exploring the impact of past traditions and lineages, investigating and challenging notions of tradition: critically appraising and reflecting upon how the impact of the Covid pandemic, and recent advances in digital technologies, has led to innovation and change. Where appropriate, your work will be further contextualised by relevant developments in associated popular artforms including musical theatre, cabaret, drag, variety and circus. You will also study regional differences in the expression of the form both across the UK and overseas.

In this module you will research and survey the landscape of contemporary pantomime practice, paying particular attention to the impact of past histories, traditions and forms. You will also converse with current ethical and moral industry debates appertaining to the creation, presentation and reception of contemporary manifestations of pantomime and examine the social, cultural and economic impact of traditional and contemporary pantomime in the UK.

During the module, you will be mentored by an experienced theatre practitioner. She/he will support your learning and help you to reflect upon, analyse, monitor, and develop your own work. Each mentor will recommend personalised reading lists appropriate to your interests and expertise.

A key part of your learning will be to advance your personal subject specific skills and collaborative theatre skills through individual and group research. You will be actively encouraged to critique your own practice and learn from your fellow students by sharing knowledge through engaging in critical and creative debates, seminar and workshop tasks and learning activities and through reflecting upon and applying both staff and student feedback.

You will be given opportunities to negotiate with staff on the areas you wish to research, study and how you wish to be assessed. A record of the outcomes of your negotiations will be formalised in a learning contract.

You will be taught by Creative Industry experts, professional theatre practitioners and departmental staff who will offer differing opinions and perspectives, which will hopefully challenge, extend, stimulate and inspire your thinking and practice.

Your learning will also be supported by wider university staff, including specialist help to support research and study skills.

Abbott, C., 2012. Putting on Panto to Pay for the Pinter. Salisbury: Hobnob Press.
Abbott, C., 2015. Henry Marshall’s Gag Book: Pantomime Routines for Actors in Twentieth Century Repertory Theatre. Theatre Notebook, 69 (1), 40–61.
Arrighi, Gillian. 2012. The 'D'Oyly Carte Pantomimes": Complementarity and Innovation. Popular Entertainment Studies, 3 (2), 31-44.
Bezuidenhout, Tamara Louise Kenny and Coetzee, Marié-Heleen. 2012. Constructing nation and identity in post-apartheid South Africa: a reading of Janice Honeyman’s pantomime version of Peter Pan. Popular Entertainment Studies, 3 (2), 45-64.
Bradfield, Jon and Hooper, Martin. 2020. He’s Behind You: Eleven Gay Pantomimes. Tolworth: Grosvenor House Publishing.
Branagh, J. and Orton, K., 2011. Creating Pantomime. Ramsbury: The Crowood Press.
Brandreth, Giles. 1974. I Scream for Ice Cream: Pearls from the Pantomime. London: Methuen.
Brandreth, Giles. 1973. Discovering Pantomime. London: Shire Publications.
Broadbent, R. J. 1901. A History of Pantomime. London: Simkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co.
Chang, Dongshin. 2015. Representing China on the Historical London Stage: From Orientalism to Intercultural Performance. London: Routledge.
Davis, Jim ed. 2011. Victorian Pantomime. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Davis, Jim. 2012. First Bouquets, Big Heads and Obstinate Horses: Illustrating the Victorian Pantomime. Popular Entertainment Studies, 3 (2), 4-30.
Frow, Gerald. 1985. Oh Yes it is!: History of Pantomime. London: BBC Books.
Harris, Paul. 2008. Pantomime Book: The Only Known Collection of Pantomime Jokes and Sketches in Captivity. London: Peter Owen Publishers.
Holland, Peter. 1997. ‘The Play of Eros: Paradoxes of Gender in English Pantomime’. New Theatre Quarterly 13 (51), 195-204.
Hope, Russ. 2012. Directing Pantomime: Steve Marmion on Dick Whittington and his Cat. In Hope, Russ. Getting Directions: A Fly-on-the-Wall Guide for Emerging Theatre Directors. London: Nick Hern Books.
Kruger, Marie. “Pantomime in South Africa: The British tradition and the local flavour,” South African Theatre Journal 17:1 (2003): 129-152.
Lipton, M., 2007. Celebrity versus Tradition: ‘Branding’ in Modern British Pantomime. New Theatre Quarterly, 23 (2), 136–149.
Lipton, Martina. 2008. “Principally Boys? Gender Dynamics and Casting Practices in Modern British Pantomime.” Contemporary Theatre Review 18 (4): 470–486.
Lipton, Martina. 2012. Localism and Modern British Pantomime. In: G. Arrighi and V. Emeljanow, eds. A World of Popular Entertainments: An Edited Volume of Critical Essays. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Mander, R and Mitchenson, J. 1973. Pantomime: A Story in Pictures. London: Peter Davies.
Marsden, Robert. 2020. “Monsters and the Pantomime.” Palgrave Communications 6 (1): 36.
Mayer, David. 1974. “The Sexuality of Pantomime.” Theatre Quarterly 4 (3): 55–64.
O’Brien, John. 2015. Harlequin Britain: Pantomime and Entertainment, 1690 – 1760. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
Pickering, David. 1993. Encyclopedia of Pantomime. Andover: Gale Research International.
Salberg, Derek. 1981. Once Upon a Pantomime. Luton: Cortney Publications.
Sladen, S., 2012. The Globality of Pantomime: A Brief Excursion. Popular Entertainment Studies, 3 (2), 65–71.
Sladen, S., 2014. ‘The Death of the Dame? Tales from the National Database of Pantomime Performance. Studies in Theatre and Performance, 35 (1), 80–89.
Sladen, S., 2017. ‘Hiya Fans!’ Celebrity Performance and Reception in Modern British Pantomime. In: A. Ainsworth, O. Double and L. Peacock, eds. Popular Performance. London: Bloomsbury, 179–202.
Sladen, Simon. 2018. ‘Design for Pantomime’ in eds. Long, Philip and Norman, Joanna. The Story of Scottish Design. London: Thames and Hudson / V&A. pp. 144-145.
Sladen, Simon. 2020. ‘Wicked Queens of Pantoland’ in Edward, Mark and Farrier, Stephen. Drag Histories, Herstories and Herstories: Drag in a Changing Scene (Vol. 2). London: Bloomsbury.
Sladen, Simon. 2020. ”That sort of fairy tale’s no use in the new Victorian age that’s coming”: The past as a metaphor for the present in Peter Nichols’s Poppy’. Popular Entertainment Studies, Vol. 11 (1-2), 46-65.
Sullivan, J.A., 2011. The Politics of Pantomime: Regional Identity in the Theatre, 1860–1900. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press
Taylor, Millie. 2007. British Pantomime Performance. Exeter: Intellect
Waters, Hazel. 2007. Racism on the Victorian Stage: Representation of Slavery and the Black Character. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, A.E. 1934. Christmas Pantomime. London: G. Allen & Unwin.
Wilson, A.E. 1946. Pantomime Pageant. London: Stanley Paul & Co Ltd.
Wilson, A.E. 1949. The Story of Pantomime. London: Home & Van Thal.
Wichard, Anne. 2009. Thomas Burke's Dark Chinoiserie: Limehouse Nights and the Queer Spell of Chinatown. London: Routledge.
Ziter, Edward. 2003. The Orient on the Victorian Stage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tutorial and seminar space, with facilities for portfolio creation.
Presentation facilities for formal presentations.
University Library
IT facilities
Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment will support this module where relevant.
Online Resources including:
Drama on line - https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/v
BBC Box of Broadcasts - https://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/libraryresources

In addition to the above, students will be expected to attend theatre visits and access recorded performances on-line.