Blackwell Reference Online

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Leigh Hunt called the pantomime the period's ‘best medium of dramatic satire’ (1949: 144). Fast-paced and full of bustle and variety, the pantomime made fun of politics, commerce, culture, technology, law, war, urban life, and even the drama itself. It was one of the most popular forms of theatre in the period, reputedly carrying the finances of the major houses while they lost money on Shakespeare. Its changes marked England's transition from a rural culture to a modern, urban consumer power. Although pantomime has its roots in the Continental commedia dell'arte and, before that, in traditional fairs, rituals, and festivals that pre-date theatre ( Gaull 2003 ), the form that eighteenth-century and Romantic viewers would recognize first emerged in the 1720s. John Rich (1692–1761), the manager of the New Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, is often credited with devising it, though the credit likely comes more from his reputation for pleasing audiences and his star performances in the role of Harlequin than from any evidence of his actual invention ( Thomson 2006 : 75). The form that emerged in the eighteenth century featured a two-part structure. A serious ‘opening’ or ‘frame story’ – generally drawn from familiar tales such as Classical mythology, English folklore, best-selling fiction, fairy tales, or current events – sets up the classic story where an authoritarian father prevents ... log in or subscribe to read full text