Charades originated in 16th-century France where parlour games were the popular way to spice up an evening. In Britain, the game was embraced by the Victorians and the Edwardians, and became a fashionable source of after dinner entertainment.
Charlotte Brontë uses a game involving Mr Rochester and Miss Ingram as a narrative device in Jane Eyre. Peter Pan creator JM Barrie loved dabbling in imaginary worlds and always played charades at house parties he hosted. HG Wells was also keen on the game and, in one sitting, he dressed himself in a white sheet and moved up and down the room, to an audience who didn't manage to guess that he was pretending to be "God moving in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform".
More recently, in the early 1990s, a game of charades helped Arsene Wenger win one of the most coveted jobs in football. At a dinner party at the home of Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, Wenger's re-enactment of A Midsummer Night's Dream impressed the host so much that he offered him the manager's job.
Although most people tend only to play charades at Christmas, like eating turkey, many wonder why they don't do it more often. The game's longevity is due in part to it being appropriate for all ages and easy to play. It also requires no props or preparation and, most importantly, gives shrinking violets the chance of the spotlight.
Nor are we the only primates to enjoy it: research last year from the University of St Andrews reveals that apes play charades too.
The traditional version
Choose any word that is made up of two or three syllables and act it out for the other players to guess. For example if the word chosen is "impact", you would probably start by acting out the second half, -act , by pulling a book off a shelf and miming exaggeratedly as if you are reading from a play script. For imp- you could start limping and then when someone guesses correctly signal them to shorten the word to imp.
Instead of a single word, you could choose to act out a title; Victorians were keen on acting out nursery rhymes, poems and proverbs in a series of tableaux.
Alternatively, or once you have acted out individual words, act out a scene from the title. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, for example, could be conveyed by one person pretending to take a bite of a poisonous apple and the rest of the team walking around on their knees.
The modern version
Think of a book, television programme, film, song title or play and use hand signals to convey the genre. A book is indicated by unfolding your hands like an open book, for a television programme use your fingers to draw a rectangle in the air to represent a TV screen, for a film pretend to be winding an old-fashioned camera, for a song pretend to sing into a microphone and for a play draw the outline of a stage (complete with curtains) with your fingers.
Start to mime the title one word at a time. There are added signals you can use to help: tug your ear to signal "sounds like"; tap two or three fingers on your other arm to break the word up into two or three syllables, then tap again to say which syllable you are acting.
The modern game was popularised by the now cult TV gameshow Give Us a Clue (starring Una Stubbs and Lionel Blair as the team captains) which ran from 1979 to 1992. This was in turn mercilessly satirised by BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue which included a nonsensical "sound charades" round.
The Christmas version
Make a virtue of the fact that you only play this once a year at seasonal family gatherings and turn it into a 2008 review. Mime big news stories from the past year (the US election and banking hiatus should provide plenty of material on their own).
Advanced versions
Nebuchadnezzar charades is a more challenging version of charades, played by children in the 1920s. The name of a famous person was chosen and then each player in turn depicted a well-known character, whose initial letter then formed part of the final word. So, for example, if the famous person is M-A-D-O-N-N-A the players act out Mariah Carey (M) Adam Ant (A) ... etc
Another popular 1920s version of charades played regularly in Chelsea and Bloomsbury was pirandello. In this version, instead of guessing a title, the audience had to guess a personality being acted out.
How to mime the RSC way
Lyn Darney, Royal Shakespeare Company's head of text, voice and artist development
'Charades tests your non-verbal skills of communication and it's a game that drama students often use for a warm-up. It helps them connect with the audience and teaches them to read the audience properly.
'When playing charades it's important to hold your space, you will look confident if you are filling the whole space and the audience will pay more attention to what you are trying to do. It takes a lot of mental agility to be good at this game so before you start, spend a moment thinking about what you are going to do and take a deep breath.
'You've really got to get into the performance, use your whole body, your facial expressions, your hands and eye contact to express the emotion.
Commit to any gesture, make it large and clear, but it shouldn't be flippant, the audience need to believe you. If you're doing a convincing job you will feel the two-way connection, you giving and them receiving the message.
'If your team is not getting the answer, don't be rushed or panicked.
'Take it syllable-by-syllable, building one idea on another and then read the audience. If they are still not getting the clues, change tack. Use the categories to help you, like "sounds like" and "opposite".
'We read a lot from bodies in everyday dealings, if you're at the bar you signal "do you want a drink" to your friend. Charades is just an extension of this, a chance to hone your gestures and read body language, it's a great exercise and of course, a lot of fun!'