Pantomime
Read Pantomime and check the IELTS Reading answers. A pantomime performance is a unique blend of eccentricity and absurdity, a wild mixture of songs, jokes, outrageous costumes and slapstick physical humour. For many British children, their first family trip to see a pantomime in the Christmas holi…
Passage preview
A pantomime performance is a unique blend of eccentricity and absurdity, a wild mixture of songs, jokes, outrageous costumes and slapstick physical humour. For many British children, their first family trip to see a pantomime in the Christmas holiday season is their introduction to the magic of the theatre. But what has become a quintessentially British form of entertainment is more than just simple fun. As an art form, pantomime presents a tale of good and evil, where hope finally triumphs after danger and virtual despair.
Vocabulary from this passage
9 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- cut across the boundaries between verb phrase
To affect or involve several separate groups or areas at once.
In the passage:
"cut across the boundaries between performers and spectators": a way to describe ideas that ignore divisions.
Synonyms: go beyond the divisions between, blur the line between
- denounce as verb phrase
To publicly condemn someone or something as bad or dangerous.
In the passage:
Q17's heading says "negative attitude"; the passage says pantomimes were "denounced as a threat".
Synonyms: condemn as, attack as
Opposites: praise as
- infuse with verb phrase
To fill something with a particular quality or idea.
In the passage:
"began to infuse pantomime with the plots and dilemmas of working people's culture": Q24's evidence.
Synonyms: fill with, imbue with
Opposites: drain of
- interwove verb
Past tense of interweave: joined different things closely together so they cannot be separated.
In the passage:
Q16's heading says "merging of artistic sources"; the passage says harlequinades "interwove" Ovid's poem "with" the Italian commedia.
Synonyms: blended, combined
Opposites: separated
- invariably adverb
Always, in every case and without any exception.
In the passage:
Q15's heading says "a standard set of characters"; the passage says the key roles were "invariably" the same.
Synonyms: always, standard
Opposites: occasionally
- quintessentially adverb
In the most typical or perfect way.
In the passage:
"a quintessentially British form of entertainment": a precise way of saying "most typical".
Synonyms: typically, archetypically
- repressive adjective
Using strict and unfair control to limit people's freedom.
In the passage:
Q18's heading is about "political issues"; the passage says "comic revenge against a highly repressive government".
Synonyms: oppressive, authoritarian
Opposites: liberal
- satirist noun
A writer or performer who mocks people or institutions to show their faults.
In the passage:
"Grimaldi became one of the great satirists of his age": why the Clown fits the political heading (Q18).
Synonyms: comic critic, humorous commentator
- virtual adjective
Almost complete, though not officially or exactly so.
In the passage:
"danger and virtual despair": it means "almost total", not "online" or computer-based.
Synonyms: near, almost total
Opposites: actual
Answers with explanations
- 14. iv
Look at how the paragraph opens: **many British children**, their **first** family trip, and an **introduction** to the theatre all point to **discovering pantomime at a young age**. The rest only describes what pantomime is, so no other heading is about when or how people first meet it.
- 15. ii
The paragraph is about commedia dell'arte. **Outdoor performances** matches shows held **in streets and marketplaces**, and **a standard set of characters** matches **key roles ... invariably** the same: old men, young lovers, servants. The paragraph does cover origins, which tempts the heading about debate, but nobody debates anything here.
- 16. viii
The main idea is how two sources were combined: Rich's pantomimes **interwove** a Latin poem **with** the Italian commedia, and also mixed music, ballet and myth. **A successful merging of artistic sources** is that idea, and the paragraph calls the result "tremendously enjoyable", which supports **successful**.
- 17. v
The paragraph deals with **critics** who **attacked** pantomime and with Garrick's answer to them. His **tactic** was to confine shows to Christmas so pantomime was seen as harmless fun. That is **a way of dealing with a negative attitude**. The Christmas detail does not make this about young audiences.
- 18. iii
The Clown is placed against **civil unrest**, a **repressive government** and a world of **comic revenge**, and Grimaldi is called a **satirist** of the ruling classes. That is **pantomime as a means of focusing on political issues**. The heading about sympathy and amusement belongs to the Dame in the next paragraph, not the Clown.
- 19. i
The paragraph is about the **Dame**, whose power comes from **compassion and laughter**, which are the passage's words for **sympathy and amusement**. The Dame appears again in the last paragraph, but there the focus is today's audience, so this heading fits only here.
- 20. vi
The paragraph is set in the present: pantomimes are popular **today**, and **our delight** comes from emotions and relationships. It explains how the Dame draws modern audiences in through **conversations with the audience**. The sympathy heading also mentions a character, but it belongs to the earlier Dame paragraph.
- 21. Masks
Look for what actors used to hide who they were. The passage says **masks** let actors be rude **without fear of being recognised**, which is the notes' **disguise their real identities**. The word **they** in "they also allowed actors" refers back to the masks.
- 22. Poem
**A 16th-century art form** is the Italian commedia, and the thing combined with it was a **Latin poem** from the **first century**, matching **written many centuries earlier**. The gap needs the word for that work: **poem**. The title Metamorphoses is not a one-word answer for "a ___ written".
- 23. Policemen
The Clown's **anarchic activities** are listed: **chasing and imprisoning** people, who are the **victims** in the question. The gap is plural and refers to people, so it is **policemen**. Sausages are stolen too, but they are not chased or imprisoned.
- 24. D
**Less wealthy sections of society** matches **working-class** and **poverty**, and **focused on the situation** matches Dan Leno's Dame and the **working people's culture** he put into pantomime. Grimaldi's satire in the previous paragraph targets the ruling classes, not the poor.
- 25. A
**Supernatural** is paraphrased by **magic wand** and **amazing transformations**. These belong to the pantomimes of the actor **John Rich**, named in the same paragraph. Garrick appears in the next paragraph but is linked to criticism and the Christmas season, not magic.
- 26. C
**Never seen to be punished** matches **never caught or sent to jail**. The sentence is about **the Clown**, and the previous lines name him as **Joseph Grimaldi**, so the person is Grimaldi. Dan Leno's Dame is a poor housewife and has no such storyline.