Burlesque
Burlesque is a term which refers to a literary, dramatic or musical work that caricatures the manner, style or subject of serious works and their subjects. Deriving from the Italian burla – a joke, ridicule or mockery. Another derivative from the Italian is burletta, which usually refers to a brief comic Italian (or, later, English) opera.
Often found in the case of Shakespeare's plays for example.
See also Travesty.
burlesque burletta
F.C.L. Bosman (1928, p. 394) notes a quaint paring of the two terms in the description of Dowling's 1834 travesty of Othello (Othello Travestie) as a "burlesque burletta".
Ethiopian burlesque
A particular form developed by the minstrelsy movement was the so-called Ethiopian burlesque, often played in black face, and popular in Cape Town in the mid 19th century. Also found as an Ethiopian opera, or Ethiopian sketch.
Examples included: Hamlet the Dainty, an Ethiopian burlesque on Shakespeare's Hamlet by George W. H. Griffin (1829-1879); Othello an "Ethiopian Burlesque in 3 Acts".
Sources
"Burlesque" in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlesque)
"Burletta" in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burletta)
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