Abstract
The arrival of the Franco-Italian form in London is seen through the censorious eyes of satirical engraver William Hogarth as he decries the trivialisation of English theatre, ‘once home to the mighty works of Shakespeare and Jonson’. Six engravings (1723–1733) are examined. In them Hogarth lampoons the managers of the patent house, Drury Lane, led by Colley Cibber, for their pusillanimity in kowtowing to popular taste. John Rich is introduced and subjected to equal satire as the agent provocateur of this dumbing down. His skills as a dancer of the role of Harlequin and as a crowd-pleasing manager are discussed. His success, first at the Lincoln Inn’s Fields and then at Covent Garden (built with his profits from The Beggar’s Opera), provokes attempted emulation by Cibber & co., resulting in a ‘Harlequinade war’. However, towards the end of his life, Hogarth ceased to censure Commedia as the root of the demise of English drama and in his self-published The Line of Beauty he recognises the artistic value of its scenic dancing in pantomime, pointing out the individual sinuous profile of each Commedia figure in turn.
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