The story of the Harlequinade revolves around a comic incident in the lives of its five main characters: Harlequin, who loves Columbine; Columbine's greedy and foolish father Pantaloon (evolved from the character Pantalone), who tries to separate the lovers in league with the mischievous Clown; and the servant, Pierrot, usually involving chaotic chase scenes with a bumbling policeman.Originally a mime (silent) act with music and stylised dance, the harlequinade later employed some dialogue, but it remained primarily a visual spectacle.Early in its development, it achieved great popularity as the comic closing part of a longer evening of entertainment, following a more serious presentation with operatic and balletic elements.An often elaborate magical transformation scene, presided over by a fairy, connected the unrelated stories, changing the first part of the pantomime, and its characters, into the harlequinade.In the late 18th and 19th centuries, the harlequinade became the larger part of the entertainment, and the transformation scene was presented with increasingly spectacular stage effects.[2] Secondly, the characters did not speak; this was because of the large number of French performers who played in London, following the suppression of unlicensed theatres in Paris.By the early years of the 18th century, "Italian night scenes" presented versions of Commedia traditions in familiar London settings.[3] From these, the standard English harlequinade developed, depicting the eloping lovers Harlequin and Columbine, pursued by the girl's foolish father, Pantaloon, and his comic servants.Rich gave his Harlequin the power to create stage magic in league with offstage craftsmen who operated trick scenery.Armed with a magic sword or bat (actually a slapstick), Rich's Harlequin treated his weapon as a wand, striking the scenery to sustain the illusion of changing the setting from one locale to another.When producers ran short of plots from Greek or Roman mythology they turned to British folk stories, popular literature and, by 1800, nursery tales.At the end of the first part, stage illusions were employed in a spectacular transformation scene, initiated by a fairy, turning the pantomime characters into Harlequin, Columbine and their fellows.In the early 19th century, the popular comic performer Joseph Grimaldi turned the role of Clown from "a rustic booby into the star of metropolitan pantomime".Grimaldi's popularity changed the balance of the evening's entertainment, with the first, relatively serious, section soon dwindling to what Mayer calls "little more than a pretext for determining the characters who were to be transformed into those of the harlequinade."[3] In the 19th century, theatrical presentations typically ran for four hours or more, with the pantomime and harlequinade concluding the evening after a long drama.[11] The pantomimes had double titles, describing the two unconnected stories such as "Little Miss Muffet and Little Boy Blue, or Harlequin and Old Daddy Long-Legs.Harlequin would use his magic wand or staff to turn a dog into sausages and a bed into a horse trough, to the surprise of the sleeping victim.His everlasting high spirits and cleverness work to save him from difficult situations into which his amoral behaviour leads during the course of the harlequinade.[6] He developed the character of Harlequin into a mischievous magician who was easily able to evade Pantaloon and his servants to woo Columbine.[16] Her role usually centres on her romantic interest in Harlequin, and her costume often includes the cap and apron of a serving girl, though (unlike the other players) not a mask.Originally a foil for Harlequin's slyness and adroit nature, Clown was a buffoon or bumpkin fool who resembled less a jester than a comical idiot.Grimaldi starred as Clown in Charles Dibdin's 1800 pantomime Peter Wilkins: or Harlequin in the Flying World at Sadler's Wells Theatre.Clown's costume was "garishly colourful ...
Edward R. Forte
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