Sentence:  “H'm !" he said, "so, so&mdash;it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what ... will prove a good <WSD>burlesque</WSD> ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday ... that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. ...” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody.