Cinderella pantomime in both story and style at the Royal Strand Theatre in 1860: "Cinderella! Or the Lover, the Lackey, and the Little Glass Slipper". In the traditional pantomime version the opening scene takes place in a forest with a hunt in progress; here Cinderella first meets Prince Charming and his "right-hand man" Dandini, whose name and character come from Gioachino Rossini's opera ("La Cenerentola"). Cinderella mistakes Dandini for the Prince and the Prince for Dandini. Her father, Baron Hardup, is under the thumb of his two stepdaughters, the Ugly sisters, and has a servant, Cinderella's friend Buttons. (Throughout the pantomime,
Pantomime suitable look of mock-outrage. ... At least we can tell our grandchildren that we saw McKellen's Twankey and it was huge." The main roles within pantomime are usually as follows: Pantomime is performed in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Bermuda, Australasia, Canada, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Gibraltar, and Malta, mostly during the Christmas and New Year season. Many theatres in cities and towns throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland continue to have an annual professional pantomime. Pantomime is also very popular with amateur dramatics societies throughout the UK and Ireland, and the pantomime season (roughly speaking, late November to