Special Guest Blogger: John Rich

I gave the world the Pantomime, oh no i never, oh yes i did, but i didn't invent it, the Italians had a version of it called Commedia dell'arte which were loud, colourful plays and i inherited a patent to run a theater and set up the Lincoln Theatre and put on plays but the finances were not good until i hit upon the bright idea of putting on my own version of 'Commedia dell'Arte' with dancing, music, tumbling, acrobatics and a cast stock characters including the central Harlequin character which i played, called Lun, who would dance but never speak.
We would perform comic stories combining a classical fable or folk tale such as Dick Whittington, Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella or Robin Hood in colorfully-dressed costumes and i was backed by some big hitters of the time such as William Hogarth, Samuel Johnson, Member of Parliament John Wilkes and the Prince of Wales.
It was the performance of John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera which really got the money spinning and i used the proceeds to build a bigger and better theater, the Theater Royal, Covent Garden, and the Pantomime idea really kicked up a gear.
We introduced songs, gags, slapstick comedy, lavish backgrounds, special effects and dancing and started gender-crossing actors and began incorporating audience participation with the crowd shouting out phrases to the performers.
My pantomimes became a hit (hooray) although they were dismissed as vulgar by my rival and the villain David Garrick at the Drury Lane Theater (Boo, Hiss) who said they threatened the downfall of Shakespeare and the death of serious theater but the paying public loved them and it didn't stop him from nicking my idea and improving upon it (aawww) with a talking Harlequin and putting them on during the Christmas period, associating them forever with the fun and frivolity of the holiday season and my plays fell out of favour.
Something i did introduce which continues today is men playing women's roles and female performers taking male roles and supporting destitute and out of work actors in Pantomimes which is why to this day you get audience participation which includes, blimey, i thought he died years ago when that once respected actor comes onto stage prancing about in a tutu wondering Where’s my career gone? All together now: It’s behind you!!