Embracing Disruption - Clowning, Improvisation, Unscripted in Early Shakespearean

This volume celebrates the centrality of clowning to Shakespeare's conception of theatre and how he purposefully invites the clown's anarchic energy into the heart of his dramaturgy.

List of contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction: Thriving Beyond Authorial Control
Chapter 1: The Man Who Could 'Please All' Dick Tarlton's World and Playground
Chapter 2: 'Enter Will Kemp' Revivifying the Clown Peter in Romeo and Juliet
Chapter 3: 'A Good Wit Will Make Use of Anything' Kemp's Playful Clowning in Serious History
Chapter 4: Clown Prince Hamlet - Exposing the Fictions of Decorum.
Chapter 5: "The Worst Returns to Laughter," Transformation through Collaboration, Robert Armin as Lear's Fool
Index

About the author

Stephen Wisker is an Assistant Professor of Theatre in The School of Fine Arts at Wesleyan College.

Product details

• Authors: Stephen Wisker
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 23.07.2025
• EAN: 9781032740799
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3274079-9
• No. of pages: 168
• Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama > Drama; Humanities, art, music > Art > Miscellaneous; PERFORMING ARTS / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Shakespeare, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / General, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / History & Criticism, Theatre Studies, Performance Art, Classic and pre-20th century plays, Shakespeare Plays, PERFORMING ARTS / Improvisation, Shakespeare;Clowning;Improvisation