Grief
Grief is a central theme in Pantomime. Early in the play, Jackson hints at his employer's despair by remarking that Harry must have lept off the gazebo ledge "at long last." The audience later learns that Harry's despair stems from unprocessed grief. Having lost his son in a drunk-driving accident and having lost his wife to another man, Harry moved to Tobago to take over the Castaways Guest House and forget his sorrows. However, Harry's typically English emotional repression only precipitates more problems as he spends much of his time wandering around forlornly like a shipwrecked man. In Act Two, Jackson role-plays as Harry's ex-wife to help Harry work through his grief and let go of his anger. However, Harry's catharsis is quickly followed by a re-entrenchment of his denial as he dismisses the significance of his misfortunes.
Isolation
Isolation—the fact of having minimal contact with others—is a major theme in Pantomime. Walcott introduces the theme with the play's setting: a remote hotel in Tobago called Castaways Guest House. With no guests currently staying, Harry is left alone with his thoughts, his only human contact being Jackson, his factotum. Without anyone to talk to, Harry uses Jackson as a sounding board, reaching for him to help pull him out of his social isolation. Jackson remarks on his employer's loneliness, saying that he and other employees have observed the way Harry wanders around like he is lost. Walcott further emphasizes the theme with Harry's desire to put on a pantomime based on the story of Robinson Crusoe, a shipwrecked man with whom Harry identifies. Jackson, too, has chosen to isolate in Tobago, having left his life as a performer in Trinidad for peace and quiet. When Walcott reveals that Harry came to Tobago because he is running away from the trauma of having lost his son and of his wife having left him, Walcott shows that Harry's physical isolation is born from his desire to isolate from painful emotions.
Performance
Performance—particularly performance of a cultural or social role—is another key theme in Pantomime. Walcott establishes the theme early in the play with the introductions of each character: Harry sings and dances onto the stage while reciting lines from his music hall–style pantomime of Robinson Crusoe, and Jackson delivers comic lines in which he calls for Harry while switching between English and Creole accents, showing that he can perform multiple voices. As the play goes on, the audience learns that both men are retired performers: Harry came up in a British music hall family while Jackson was a calypsonian in Trinidad. Walcott adds nuance to the theme of performance when Jackson tells his employer that "we both acting a role here we ain't really really believe in [sic]", suggesting that Harry isn't comfortable in his performance as someone who gives orders and Jackson isn't comfortable in his role as someone who takes orders. Jackson says that he and Harry are "faking, faking all the time," as history and social conditions have determined that they perform their identities as superior and subordinate. Ultimately, through exploring their ideas via improvisation and rehearsal, the men work toward a paradigm in which they are freed from their rigid social performances.
Mimicry
Alongside the theme of performance is the theme of mimicry. Defined as entertaining or ridiculing through the imitation of someone or something, mimicry is a significant element in the play. The theme first arises when Jackson complains about the parrot's use of a racist slur; Jackson claims the parrot has learned, like a child, to repeat and perpetuate the prejudice of those who raised him. In Act Two, the characters address the theme directly when Jackson says, "Monkey see, monkey do," and Harry says that Jackson is "the ape" because his people "just climbed down from the trees," insinuating that Black people are uncivilized and merely imitating Europeans. Later in the scene, Jackson imitates an exaggerated British accent, prompting Harry to shout, "Ape! Mimic!" Jackson also shows a talent for playful but effective mimicry when he effortlessly switches into an Englishwoman's accent to portray Ellen, Harry's ex-wife, while holding a photo of her in front of his face.
Postcolonialism
The cultural and political condition of postcolonial Trinidad and Tobago is a dominant theme in Pantomime. Walcott mainly explores the theme through the relationship between Jackson and Harry as descendants of, respectively, the colonized and colonizer. Although Trinidad and Tobago is an independent republic, the former British colony struggles economically and politically; Jackson alludes to the labor strikes that have limited the movement of basic goods on the island. With money he has earned or inherited in England, Harry is in a position to take advantage of the weak postcolonial economy and buy a guest-house business in Tobago that he runs with the low-paid labor of locals like Jackson. This economic inequality precipitates a social inequality that continues to put Jackson in a subordinate position to Harry, a power differential that mirrors the relationship between former colonies and the empire. Although Harry identifies as a liberal and hopes to achieve a certain level of "man to man" equality with Jackson, Jackson hints that they will not be able to see eye to eye as long as their economic inequality is maintained. Because of this, the play ends with Jackson asking that Harry give him a raise as a move toward bringing about greater equality in their postcolonial relationship.
Resentment
Resentment is a major theme in the play. Defined as bitterness at having been treated unfairly, resentment turns out to be one of the main emotions motivating Harry to redo his pantomime of the Robinson Crusoe story. Having been upstaged when his ex-wife—the superior actor—portrayed Crusoe, Harry hopes to do a new version of the play in which he scornfully outshines the woman who humiliated and left him. Alongside Harry's resentment of his ex-wife is Jackson's resentment of his foolish, undignified employer. Although Trinidad and Tobago won full independence from Britain in 1976—two years before Pantomime was first staged—Jackson is in a subordinate financial and social position to Harry, the hotel owner, simply because Harry is a white Englishman. Having worked in the international hotel industry, Jackson knows better than Harry how to run a hotel, but the legacy of colonialism means Harry has accrued enough wealth in England to buy an entire guest house business in Tobago. To express his resentment, Jackson frequently belittles Harry with sarcasm, condescension, and well-reasoned arguments.
Compromise
Compromise—agreement between conflicting opinions that is reached through modifications or concessions on both sides—is another important theme in Pantomime. At the beginning of the play, Harry wants Jackson to act alongside him in a pantomime production of Robinson Crusoe. Insisting that he has retired as a performer, Jackson refuses, especially if Harry expects him to demean himself by playing Friday, a cannibal turned servant. Harry's first move toward compromise comes when he suggests that Jackson play Crusoe and Harry play Friday. Jackson offers modifications to the script, which Harry disapproves of because of their anti-imperialist nature. Harry attempts another compromise by writing a serious-minded monologue for Jackson to recite; this, however, doesn't capture what Jackson sees in the Crusoe character either. Ultimately, Jackson agrees to take part in the performance as Harry initially requested, as long as Harry meets one condition: a raise.
