What is "harlequinade"

Harlequinade \Har"le*quin*ade`\ (-[=a]d`), n. [F. arleguinade.] A play or part of a play in which the harlequin is conspicuous; the part of a harlequin.
--Macaulay.

n. 1 A pantomime-like comedy featuring the harlequin or clown. 2 Any comical or fantastical procedure or playfulness.

n. acting like a clown or buffoon [syn: buffoonery, clowning, frivolity, prank]

Harlequinade is a British 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, 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.

Harlequinade is a play by Terence Rattigan.

The play was first performed on 8 September 1948 at the Phoenix Theatre, London, along with The Browning Version.

Harlequinade was a solo modern dance by Martha Graham set to music by Ernst Toch. The work premiered on January 8, 1930, at Maxine Elliott's Theatre in New York City. The performance was part of a concert staged by the Dance Repertory Theatre, a group that included dancer/choreographers Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and Helen Tamiris. Their stated goal was "to give annually a season of continuous dance programs which will be representative of the art of dance in America and will give native artists an outlet for their creative work." Other new Graham works on the evening's program were Lamentation and Prelude to a Dance.