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,
Wilfredo (character) Wilfredo (character) Wilfredo is a fictional comedy character portrayed by the British comedian Matt Roper. The character is an obnoxious, deluded and uncouth satire of a romantic singer characterized in a commedia dell'arte style. Wilfredo has acquired a cult status, particularly among music festival audiences and on the alternative cabaret and comedy circuit in London. Roper has toured the character internationally, performing in Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, South Africa, Australia and Argentina. Physically, the character of Wilfredo is a grotesque caricature of Falstaffian appearance: trousers pulled up to the top of a corpulent stomach, a tight