Slapstick and comic performance : comedy and pain /

Slapstick comedy has been entertaining audiences for centuries. Within slapstick, comic pain and comic violence are performed to provoke laughter. This book explores just how and why the performance of pain and violence can make us laugh. It examines the centrality of the double act, the importance...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Peacock, Louise (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Subjects:
Description
Summary:Slapstick comedy has been entertaining audiences for centuries. Within slapstick, comic pain and comic violence are performed to provoke laughter. This book explores just how and why the performance of pain and violence can make us laugh. It examines the centrality of the double act, the importance of morality and the techniques used by slapstick performers. In this engaging new book, Louise Peacock provides a detailed consideration of the ways in which slapstick is structured and performed, exploring a range of examples drawn from theatre, film and television including Commedia dell'Arte, Punch and Judy, Circus Clowns, television sitcoms like Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and a wide range of films from Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times to The Hangover.
Physical Description:184 pages ; 23 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 176-180) and index.
ISBN:9780230364134
0230364136