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 13
Page
... Joubert (1529-82). Joubert was a Montpellier- based doctor and academic who became personal physician to the King of France.3 The Traité Du Ris, the fullest Renaissance description of the physiological working of laughter, is only one ...
... Joubert (1529-82). Joubert was a Montpellier- based doctor and academic who became personal physician to the King of France.3 The Traité Du Ris, the fullest Renaissance description of the physiological working of laughter, is only one ...
Page
... Joubert, laughter is not simply a sign of joy or of sorrow, but arises from a mixture of pleasure and displeasure at this particular kind of stimulus: "Laughter, then, is provoked by deeds or words which have the appearance of ugliness ...
... Joubert, laughter is not simply a sign of joy or of sorrow, but arises from a mixture of pleasure and displeasure at this particular kind of stimulus: "Laughter, then, is provoked by deeds or words which have the appearance of ugliness ...
Page
... Joubert, can be a medical emergency. Joubert's influence can be seen in accounts including A Treatise of Melancholy (1586), by Timothy Bright (1549/50-1615), English physician, divine and writer on shorthand as well as 011 medicine ...
... Joubert, can be a medical emergency. Joubert's influence can be seen in accounts including A Treatise of Melancholy (1586), by Timothy Bright (1549/50-1615), English physician, divine and writer on shorthand as well as 011 medicine ...
Page
... Joubert observe, there is in some respects considerable overlap between laughter and weeping in terms of their symptoms, these two accounts ascribe to them quite different fundamental aetiologies; weeping is caused by emotional distress ...
... Joubert observe, there is in some respects considerable overlap between laughter and weeping in terms of their symptoms, these two accounts ascribe to them quite different fundamental aetiologies; weeping is caused by emotional distress ...
Page
... Joubert to explain "whence it comes that some laugh more often and more suddenly than others", and why some people healthy adult men, in theory - are less prone to shedding of tears than, for instance, women and children. Joubert ...
... Joubert to explain "whence it comes that some laugh more often and more suddenly than others", and why some people healthy adult men, in theory - are less prone to shedding of tears than, for instance, women and children. Joubert ...
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