John Rich (producer) John Rich (producer) John Rich (1692–1761) was an important director and theatre manager in 18th-century London. He opened the New Theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields (1714), which he managed until he opened the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (1732). He managed Covent Garden until 1761, putting on ever more lavish productions. He introduced pantomime to the English stage and played a dancing and mute Harlequin himself from 1717 to 1760 under the stage name of "Lun." Rich's version of the servant character, Arlecchino, moved away from the poor, disheveled, loud, and crude character, to a colorfully-dressed, silent Harlequin, performing fanciful tricks,
Commedia dell'arte masks mask there are a few different ways to do this, leather is the traditional material used but there is also paper mache and plaster casts. Leather is the most used material for making masks as it is the easiest to shape without hurting the face. Leather is also close to the skin and creates a light, easy to wear mask that holds shape and life on stage. Commedia dell'arte masks Commedia dell'Arte masks are one of the biggest classifiers for each character. Every mask goes with a specific character based on the way it looks. Masks were originally all made