Harlequinade Harlequinade 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 (evolved from the character Pantalone),
Abanazar (pantomime) Abanazar (pantomime) Abanazar is a magician and the primary antagonist in the Aladdin pantomime. He was also the basis for Jafar in the Disney version of Aladdin. The character first appeared in the harlequinade "Aladin" in 1788 as 'The African Magician', but was given the name Abanazer in 1813 in "Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp" at Covent Garden Opera House in 1813, described as 'A New Melo-Dramatick Romance', and revived in 1826. Other names which have been used for the character are Mourad, Abel el Nesir, Kiradamac, Abanazac and Hocus Pocus. It was with Henry James Byron's "Aladdin or the