Harlequinade is an English comic theatrical genre, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th centuries. It was originally a slapstick adaptation or variant of the commedia dell'arte, which originated in Italy and reached its apogee there in the 16th and 17th centuries. 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. The harlequinade lost popularity towards the end of the 19th century and disappeared altogether in the 1930s, although Christmas pantomimes continue to be presented in Britain without the harlequinade.
History
16th to 18th centuries
During the 16th century, commedia dell'arte spread from Italy throughout Europe, and by the 17th century adaptations of its characters were familiar in English plays."Early pantomime", Victoria and Albert Museum, accessed 21 October 2011 In English versions, harlequinades differed in two important respects from the commedia original. First, instead of being a rogue, Harlequin became the central figure and romantic lead.Hartnoll, Phyllis and Peter Found (eds). "Harlequinade", The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre, Oxford Reference Online, Oxford University Press, 1996, accessed 21 October 2011 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.Mayer, David. "Pantomime, British", Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford University Press, 2003, accessed 21 October 2011 Although this constraint was only temporary, English harlequinades remained primarily visual, though some dialogue was later admitted.An 18th-century author wrote of David Garrick: "He formed a kind of harlequinade, very different from that which is seen at the Opéra Comique in Paris, where harlequin and all the characters speak." Davies, Thomas. Memoirs of the life of David Garrick, New edition, 1780, I. x. 129, quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary
By the early years of the 18th century, "Italian night scenes" presented versions of commedia traditions in familiar London settings. 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.Smith, p. 228 The basic plot remained essentially the same for more than 150 years. In the first two decades of the century, two rival London theatres, Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, presented productions that began seriously with classical stories with elements of opera and ballet and ended with a comic "night scene". In 1716 John Weaver, the dancing master at Drury Lane, presented "The Loves of Mars and Venus – a new Entertainment in Dancing after the manner of the Antient Pantomimes". At Lincoln's Inn, John Rich presented and performed as Harlequin in similar productions. The theatre historian David Mayer explains the use of the "batte" or slapstick and the "transformation scene":
Rich's productions were a hit, and other producers, like David Garrick, began producing their own pantomimes."The Development of Pantomime", Its-Behind-You.com, 25 February 2008, accessed 8 December 2012 For the rest of the century this pattern persisted in London theatres. When producers ran short of plots from Greek or Roman mythology they turned to British folk stories, popular literature and, by 1800, nursery tales. But whatever the story shown in the first part of the entertainment, the harlequinade remained essentially the same. 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.
19th century and later 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". Two developments in 1800, both involving Grimaldi, greatly changed the pantomime characters: For the pantomime Peter Wilkins: or Harlequin in the Flying World, new costume designs were introduced. Clown traded in his tatty servant's costume for a flamboyant, colourful one. In Harlequin Amulet; or, The Magick of Mona, later the same year, Harlequin was modified, becoming an increasingly stylised romantic character leaving the mischief and chaos to Grimaldi's Clown.McConnell Stott, p. 109
Clown now appeared in a range of roles, from the rival suitor to household cook or nurse. 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." 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.Crowther, Andrew. "Clown and Harlequin", W. S. Gilbert Society Journal, vol. 3, issue 23, Summer 2008, pp. 710–12 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.""Theatre Royal, Haymarket", The Times, 3 Feb 1862, p. 8
In an elaborate scene initiated by Harlequin's "slapstick", a Fairy Queen or Fairy Godmother transformed the pantomime characters into the characters of the harlequinade, who then performed the harlequinade. Throughout the 19th century, as stage machinery and technology improved, the transformation of the set became more and more spectacular. Once the transformation was complete, Clown would announce: "Here We Are Again". The setting was usually a street scene containing several stage traps, trick doors and windows. Clown would jump through windows and reappear through trap doors. He would steal sausages, chickens and other props which he would stuff into his pockets, later dividing these unfairly with an accomplice. He would grease the doorstep of a butcher's shop with butter to outwit his pursuers. Usually there was not much spoken dialogue, but much business with a "red hot poker". 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. Clown would dive into a clock face, which would show no sign of entry.
The harlequinade lost popularity by the 1880s, when music hall, Victorian burlesque, comic opera and other comic entertainments dominated the British comedy stage. In pantomime, the love scenes between Harlequin and Columbine dwindled into brief displays of dancing and acrobatics, the fairy-tale opening was restored to its original pre-eminence, and by the end of the 19th century the harlequinade had become merely a brief epilogue to the pantomime. It lingered for a few decades longer but finally disappeared completely by the middle of the 20th century. The last harlequinade was played at the Lyceum Theatre in 1939.The Development of Pantomime (It's Behind You!), accessed 3 January 2014
Characters
The harlequinade characters consisted of the following five kinds of clowns, in addition to more minor characters like a policeman:Chaffee and Crick, p. 278
Harlequin Harlequin is the comedian and romantic male lead. He is a servant and the love interest of Columbine. 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. In some versions of the original commedia dell'arte, Harlequin is able to perform magic feats. He never holds a grudge or seeks revenge.
John Rich brought the British pantomime and harlequinade to great popularity in the early 18th century and became the most famous early Harlequin in England. He developed the character of Harlequin into a mischievous magician who was easily able to evade Pantaloon and his servants to woo Columbine. Harlequin used his magic batte or "slapstick" to transform the scene from the pantomime into the harlequinade and to magically change the settings to various locations during the chase scene.
In 1800, at Drury Lane, in Harlequin Amulet; or, The Magick of Mona, Harlequin was modified to become "romantic and mercurial, instead of mischievous". During the 19th century, Harlequin became an increasingly stylised character that performed certain dance poses. Later in the century, Fred Payne and Harry Payne, known as the Payne Brothers, were the most famous Harlequin and Clown, respectively, of their day.
Columbine Columbine (Colombina in Italian) is a lovely woman who has caught the eye of Harlequin. In the original commedia dell'arte she was variously portrayed as a Pantaloon's daughter or servant. In the English harlequinade she is always Pantaloon's daughter or ward.Hartnoll, Phyllis and Peter Found (eds). "Columbine", The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre, Oxford University Press, 1996. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press, accessed 21 October 2011 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.
Clown