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
Pantomime and 18th centuries such as Claude-François Ménestrier (1631–1705), John Weaver (1673–1760), Jean-Georges Noverre (1727–1810) and Gasparo Angiolini (1731–1803), earned it respectability and attested to the capability of dance to render complex stories and express human emotion. In the Middle Ages, the Mummers Play was a traditional English folk play, based loosely on the Saint George and the Dragon legend, usually performed during Christmas gatherings, which contained the origin of many of the archetypal elements of the pantomime, such as stage fights, coarse humour and fantastic creatures, gender role reversal, and good defeating evil. Precursors of pantomime also included the masque,