Pantomime dame played as pantomime dames are often - though not exclusively - older, matronly women. Indeed, they may be the protagonist's mother, as in "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Robinson Crusoe", or a nursemaid to the protagonist, as in "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White". Although often warm and sympathetic characters, dames may also be employed as comic antagonists, such as with the Ugly Sisters in "Cinderella". Some pantomimes traditionally do not contain standard dame roles, but certain productions may add a dame character, as in the case with many pantomime versions of "Peter Pan". Further examples of these characters include: Pantomime
Abanazar (pantomime) Abanazar (pantomime) Abanazar is a magician and the primary antagonist in the Aladdin pantomime. He was also the basis for Jafar in the Disney version of Aladdin. The character first appeared in the harlequinade "Aladin" in 1788 as 'The African Magician', but was given the name Abanazer in 1813 in "Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp" at Covent Garden Opera House in 1813, described as 'A New Melo-Dramatick Romance', and revived in 1826. Other names which have been used for the character are Mourad, Abel el Nesir, Kiradamac, Abanazac and Hocus Pocus. It was with Henry James Byron's "Aladdin or the