Shakespeare and the popular tradition in the theater : studies in the social dimension of dramatic form and function

Criticism based on literary or formalist conceptions of structure or on the history of ideas, Robert Weimann contends, has removed Shakespeare from the theater, and the theater from society at large. 'It is only when Elizabethan society, theater, and language are seen as interrelated that the structure of Shakespeare's dramatic art emerges as fully functional, that is, as part of a larger, and not only literary, whole.' Cover Title Contents Editor's Preface Introduction Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theater I. The Mimus 1. Ritual and Mimesis 2. The Actor-Audience Relationship 3. The Tradition of the Fool II. The Folk Play and Social Custom 1. Topsy-turvydom in Ceremony and Performance 2. Folk Fool and Devil 3. From Ritual Participation to Seasonal Acting 4. The English Folk Play and Shakespeare III. The Mystery Cycles 1. Secular Performances and the Popular Tradition in the Middle Ages 2. The Mystery Plays and Tradition 3. Laughter and Terror: Herod and Pilate 4. Platea and Locus: Flexible Dramaturgy 5. Realism and Folklore: Social Function and Dramatic Structure in the Shepherd Scenes IV. Moralities and Interludes 1. Outdoor and Indoor Stages: Toward a Theater of the Nation 2. From Folk Play to Mankind: Conventions of Speech and Acting 3. From Nonsense to Dialogue: "Matter and Impertinency Mix'd" 4. "Sporte" and Mimesis in the Structure of Wordplay 5. Vice against Virtue: The Comic Double-plot V. The Elizabethan Drama 1. Toward the Culture of a Nation 2. "Scene individable": Toward a Sociology of the Elizabethan Stage 3. Humanism on the Popular Stage: From "Mother Wits" to Doctor Faustus 4. Country Jig and City Clowning: The Triumph of Dick Tarlton 5. Popular Myth and Dramatic Poetry: Robin and Puck 6. Renaissance Poetics and Elizabethan Realism: Vision and Experience VI. Shakespeare's Theater: Tradition and Experiment 1. The Platform Stage 2. Role and Actor: The Language of Locality and "Place" 3. Figurenposition: The Correlation of Position and Expression 4. "Mingling Kings and Clownes": The Complementary Perspective 5. "Naturalism" vs. "Convention"? A Critical Conclusion Appendix Laughing with the Audience: A Note on The Two Gentlemen of Verona and the Popular Tradition in Shakespeare's Comedy Notes Introduction I. The Mimus II. The Folk Play and Social Custom III. The Mystery Cycles IV. Moralities and Interludes V. The Elizabethan Drama VI. Shakespeare's Theater: Tradition and Experiment Appendix Bibliography Index Back Cover Criticism based on literary or formalist conceptions of structure or on the history of ideas, Robert Weimann contends, has removed Shakespeare from the theater, and the theater from society at large. "It is only when Elizabethan socity, theater, and language are seen as interrelated that the structure of Shakespeare's dramatic art emerges as fully functionalthat is, as part of a larger, and not only literary, whole." Internationally hailed upon its original publication Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theater was revised and updated for this English translation. In its earliest stages ritual is both consecrative and productive, irrational but at the same time organizational; there is a point at which myth encompasses both religion and knowledge, illusion and a sense of reality.