You know it’s Christmas when your aunt Helen is tipsy on prosecco miming the tragic events of the Titanic in your front room. That’ll be Charades
You know it’s Christmas when your aunt Helen is tipsy on prosecco miming the tragic events of the Titanic in your front room. That’ll be Charades, the 18th-century parlour game invented by the French and embraced by Victorian Britain as a slice of after-dinner entertainment.
J.M. Barrie, Charlotte Bronté and H.G. Wells were all fans of charades, the latter even dressed in a white sheet and moved up and down the room to symbolise “God moving in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform.” Maybe stick to books next time, Herbert.
Originally, charades were riddles like these, where each syllable of the answer was described enigmatically as a separate word. Eventually, the game evolved to become ‘acting Charades’, a mime game where only non-verbal communication is allowed.
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