No Kidding!: Clown As Protagonist In Twentieth-century Theater Clown As Protagonist In Twentieth-century Theater

No Kidding! Clown As Protagonist In Twentieth-century Theater Examines The Way Clown Was Transformed Into A Serious Character In Twentieth-century Theater. Modernist Theater Practitioners Recognized That Clown's Approach To Performance Is Profoundly Different From Other Modes Of Theatrical Representation. The Paradox Of Clown, A Traditionally Marginal, Comic Character Thrust Into Center Stage As The Focus Of The Agon, Provided A Stimulating New Way To Renovate Tragedy. Experiments With Clown By Jean Cocteau, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Giorgio Strehler, Dario Fo, And Roberto Benigni Are Examined As A Means Of Exploring How And Why Clown Became, In Contemporary Theater And Film, A Character From Whom Audiences Expect Philosophizing, Angst, Or Political Criticism As Much As Physical Comedy And Fractured Language.--jacket. Introduction: Towards An Understanding Of Clown -- Clown As Focus Of Agon In Modernism -- Chasing And Gagging Clown: Early Modernism And The Development Of French Mime -- Meyerhold's Transformation From Pierrot To Kapellmeister: The Fairground Booth And Columbine's Scarf -- Clown In Brecht's Theory Of Acting: Mann Ist Mann As Anti-tragedy -- Clown In Beckett's Theater: Waiting For Godot, Endgame, Act Without Words -- Clown In Giorgio Strehler's Theater -- Clown As Proletarian Messiah: Dario Fo -- Clown As Protagonist In The Heartland Of Popular Culture -- Conclusion: The Return Of The Film Clown. Donald Mcmanus. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 171-183) And Index. This work examines the way the clown has been used as a serious character by important playwrights and directors in twentieth-century theater. Experiments with Clown by Jean Cocteau, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Giorgio Strehler, Dario Fo, and Roberto Begnini are examined.