Comic Theaters

Download or read book Comic Theaters written by William E. Gruber and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Comic Theaters, William E. Gruber draws dramatic criticism beyond its traditional emphasis on the play's text toward a theory of theater that more fully incorporates performance. The bare text is clothed in the cultural norms and conceptions of both actor and audience in performance; in the conversion of words into action; in the actor's creation of his role; and in the audience's involvement with the scenes on stage. Reinterpreting six comedies taken from classical Greek, Renaissance, and modern repertories, Gruber shows how dramatic meaning is derived not from traditional criteria, archetypal motifs, or unchanging affective responses, but from changing concepts of theater and changing configurations of actor and role.