Renaissance Clowning

Undergraduate

Stage clowns and fools have long been recognized as essential figures for understanding early performance. They had virtuosic talent for humor (of course) as well as singing, dancing, tumbling, fencing, improvisation, and working with animals. As England’s first celebrity performers, they also took on mythic status in Renaissance culture; the grandfather of English clowning, Richard Tarlton, became so famous that people used his face on tavern signs. Some audiences skipped the whole play to turn up just in time for the clown’s post-show entertainment. What made clowns so influential? What exactly does a clown do? What can clowns teach us about the conditions of making and enjoying performance? To tackle these questions and more, this course examines clown characters across late medieval and Renaissance plays alongside writing by and about clown actors (jestbooks, biographies, ballads), and theories of laughter, authorship, and celebrity. WR , HU MW 2:35pm-3:50pm