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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 47
Page
... 2 Laughing on stage 3 Weeping on stage 4 Audiences laughing 5 Audiences weeping 6 Soft smiling?: Lyly and Jonson 7 Horrid laughter 8 Shakespeare's theatre of sympathy Bibliography Index 1.1 3.1 4.1 List of Figures The weeping Heraclitus ...
... 2 Laughing on stage 3 Weeping on stage 4 Audiences laughing 5 Audiences weeping 6 Soft smiling?: Lyly and Jonson 7 Horrid laughter 8 Shakespeare's theatre of sympathy Bibliography Index 1.1 3.1 4.1 List of Figures The weeping Heraclitus ...
Page
... Jonson is cited from the edition of Herford, Simpson and Simpson, abbreviated to H&S. Texts are cited in old-spelling, with contractions silently expanded. In citing early modern plays, two changes are made for the sake of clarity ...
... Jonson is cited from the edition of Herford, Simpson and Simpson, abbreviated to H&S. Texts are cited in old-spelling, with contractions silently expanded. In citing early modern plays, two changes are made for the sake of clarity ...
Page
... 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 that seminar for their feedback, especially Martin Butler, Heather James ...
... 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 that seminar for their feedback, especially Martin Butler, Heather James ...
Page
... Jonson, both of whom, famously, express reservations about audience laughter at their comedies. Chapter 7 discusses in detail one of the thorniest questions of recent performance criticism, the phenomenon of "horrid laughter" - is it ...
... Jonson, both of whom, famously, express reservations about audience laughter at their comedies. Chapter 7 discusses in detail one of the thorniest questions of recent performance criticism, the phenomenon of "horrid laughter" - is it ...
Page
... in displaying those effects themselves onstage, by showing characters laughing and weeping, in order to cause the effects to propagate through the audience more powerfully. A generation of playwrights, including Jonson, whose.
... in displaying those effects themselves onstage, by showing characters laughing and weeping, in order to cause the effects to propagate through the audience more powerfully. A generation of playwrights, including Jonson, whose.
Contents
Laughing on stage | |
Weeping on stage | |
Audiences laughing | |
Audiences weeping | |
Lyly and Jonson | |
Horrid laughter | |
Shakespeares theatre of sympathy | |
Bibliography | |
Index | |
Other editions - View all
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