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This stimulating introduction to laughter in theatre and performance examines laughter among actors, among audience, and the interaction between the two. Exploring the many uses and effects of laughter in theatre, Eric Weitz considers laughter as a tool of political resonance, as social commentary, and as one of the oldest rhetorical devices.

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A provocative introduction to the uses and effects of laughter in theatre and performance

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Series editors´ preface.- Partners in social relations.- Laughter and theatre.- Play´s the thing.- Laughter and its double.- Killing the frog.- Embodied joking.- Subsequent audiences.- The Heart of Lightness.- Shadow laughter.- Humour as embodied practice.- Word play.- Slapstick.- The clown figure.- Laughter in the frame.- Laughter as behavioural meme.- Laughter as theme.- Funniness.- Laughter and context.- Laughter as crowd control.- Laughter as event.- Changing the situation.- One more thing.- Further reading.- Index.

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´This enlightening short overview reinstates the important concepts of comic enactment and comic character long absent from other scholarly accounts of humour. Weitz explores the intimate nexus between comedy and laughter with a fine combination of scholarship and practical theatre experience, challenging us to reflect on our own appreciation of the ludicrous and laughable.´ - Jessica Milner Davis, University of Australia, Sydney

´Lively and intelligent, this book is a stimulating romp through a whole range of ideas relating to theatre and laughter.´ - Oliver Double, University of Kent, UK

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Eric Weitz is Associate Professor of Drama at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is the author of The Cambridge Introduction to Comedy.

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