A review by violetturtledove
The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian by Andrew McConnell Stott

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

A really interesting look into the history of regency theatre, clowning and pantomime. I'd never actually heard of Grimaldi until I saw this book in a charity shop, but I do like theatrical histories so I thought it would be worth a read. It seems really well researched, there's lots of fascinating little anecdotes and footnotes included with the main history, and a thoughtful commentary on the nature of celebrity and comedy which in some ways has not changed much at all.

It's interesting to see how sorts of entertainment fall in and out of favour... We may not be entertained by the same sort of 'pantomime' today, but it's easy to spot similar trends for physical comedy, satire etc today. Also, while we may think of past audiences as prudish, or modern ones as 'easily offended', this just shows that such things are always changing.