Hanswurst

   A kind of Teutonic Harlequin, Hanswurst was a coarse clown with commedia antecedents that Josef Anton Stran-itzky (1676-1726) had formulated by 1705 in Vienna. Stranitzky, a licensed dentist who often pulled teeth during intermissions of his performances, conceived of Hanswurst as a Salzburg peasant in yellow trousers and a red jacket. Hanswurst had made his way into several Haupt- und Staatsaktion plays by the 1720s, but Caroline Neuber ceremoniously banned him from the "proper" German stage in 1737. Hanswurst refused to disappear altogether from the German stage, however, as numerous actors revived him in various guises throughout the 18th century. Hanswurst embodies the German theater's initial vulgarity and emphasis on sexual innuendo to attract a popular audience. He became a favorite among audiences, but reformers like Johann Christoph Gottsched and Neuber found him altogether embarrassing and an impediment to the acceptance of theater's legitimacy.