Random Bits of Fascination

In Jane Austen’s day, theaters prepared Christmas pantomimes (pantos) that would begin on Boxing Day and run as long as the audiences demanded them. Although pantomimes had begun as a crowd-pleasing mix of humor, mime, special effects spectacles, song and dance, based on the Italian commedia dell’arte, by the late Georgian era, the panto had become a well-established part of Christmas tradition.