Laughing and Weeping in Early Modern TheatresDid Shakespeare's original audiences weep? Equally, while it seems obvious that they must have laughed at plays performed in early modern theatres, can we say anything about what their laughter sounded like, about when it occurred, and about how, culturally, it was interpreted? Related to both of these problems of audience behaviour is that of the stage representation of laughing, and weeping, both actions performed with astonishing frequency in early modern drama. Each action is associated with a complex set of non-verbal noises, gestures, and cultural overtones, and each is linked to audience behaviour through one of the axioms of Renaissance dramatic theory: that weeping and laughter on stage cause, respectively, weeping and laughter in the audience. This book is a study of laughter and weeping in English theatres, broadly defined, from around 1550 until their closure in 1642. It is concerned both with the representation of these actions on the stage, and with what can be reconstructed about the laughter and weeping of theatrical audiences themselves, arguing that both actions have a peculiar importance in defining the early modern theatrical experience. |
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... chapters, and the reader is directed to the Bibliography for a fuller citation of the text including details such as publisher and place of publication. Shakespeare is cited from the Bevington Complete Works, but when the quotation ...
... chapters, and the reader is directed to the Bibliography for a fuller citation of the text including details such as publisher and place of publication. Shakespeare is cited from the Bevington Complete Works, but when the quotation ...
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... Chapter 6 is based on a paper written for Martin Butler's seminar “Ben Jonson: New Directions”, which took place at the 2006 annual conference of the Shakespeare Association of America, and I am grateful to all those who took part in ...
... Chapter 6 is based on a paper written for Martin Butler's seminar “Ben Jonson: New Directions”, which took place at the 2006 annual conference of the Shakespeare Association of America, and I am grateful to all those who took part in ...
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... the acoustic texture in the theatre . This book begins , then , with a chapter which reviews early modern constructions of weeping and laughter , looking at the syndrome of actions and sounds associated with each in early.
... the acoustic texture in the theatre . This book begins , then , with a chapter which reviews early modern constructions of weeping and laughter , looking at the syndrome of actions and sounds associated with each in early.
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... Chapter 2, for instance, traces over 800 occurrences in drama of the period of the phrase "ha ha ha", which, although inserted into dialogue, almost always functions in effect as an implied stage direction - actors do not speak the ...
... Chapter 2, for instance, traces over 800 occurrences in drama of the period of the phrase "ha ha ha", which, although inserted into dialogue, almost always functions in effect as an implied stage direction - actors do not speak the ...
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... Chapters 1 to 5. Chapter 6 examines in more detail the poetics of Lyly and Jonson, both of whom, famously, express reservations about audience laughter at their comedies. Chapter 7 discusses in detail one of the thorniest questions of ...
... Chapters 1 to 5. Chapter 6 examines in more detail the poetics of Lyly and Jonson, both of whom, famously, express reservations about audience laughter at their comedies. Chapter 7 discusses in detail one of the thorniest questions of ...
Contents
Laughing on stage | |
Weeping on stage | |
Audiences laughing | |
Audiences weeping | |
Lyly and Jonson | |
Horrid laughter | |
Shakespeares theatre of sympathy | |
Bibliography | |
Index | |
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Common terms and phrases
accounts of audience acoustic action actor Andrew Gurr argues associated audience laugh audience laughter audience reaction audience weeping Beaumont and Fletcher Bellario Ben Jonson Brome Bulwer Cambridge University Press Chapter character Chirologia Christian Turn'd Turk clown comedy London comic Dekker Democritus described discussed early modern audience early modern drama early modern stage early modern theatre effect Eleazer Eleazer's Elizabethan emotion English Drama example eyes face-pulling fool gesture Gosson grief Hamlet handkerchief Heraclitus Humphrey Moseley idea imagines implied stage directions instance John Jonson Joubert laughing and weeping laughter and weeping Levin Lust's Dominion Lyly metaphor mirth modem move laughter noise onstage laughter Oxford particular passion performance Philaster phrase play Prologue Renaissance Renaissance Drama representation of weeping Richard Richard Brome scene Shakespeare Sidney sorrow Spanish Tragedy Stephen Gosson sympathy Tarlton texts theatrical thee Thomas Thomas Dekker thou Titus Titus Andronicus Tragedy London Volpone weeping and laughter wept William