Leigh Hunt complained in 1831 that pantomimes
were not what they had been, and that the opening, "which used to form
merely a brief excuse for putting the harlequinade in motion," had
come to be a considerable part of the performance. In modern pantomime
it may be said that the opening is everything, and that the
harlequinade is deferred as long as possible. "Now the fun begins,"
used to be the old formula of the playbills announcing the
commencement of the harlequinade, or what is still known in the
language of the theatre as the "comic business." Perhaps experience
proved that in point of fact "the fun" did not set in at the time
stated; at any rate the appearance of harlequin and clown is now
regarded by many of the spectators as a signal for the certain
commencement of dreariness, and as a notice to quit their seats. The
pantomime Kemble had in contemplation, however, was of the fashion
Leigh Hunt looked back upon regretfully. Harlequin was to enter almost
in the first scene. "I have hit on nothing I can think of better,"
writes Kemble, "than the story of King Arthur and Merlin, and the
Saxon Wizards.
Pages:
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690