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The Stage Clown in Shakespeare's Theatre Bente A. Videbaek Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies 69 Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 1996. pp vii+215 $55.00
Videbaek's book is a comprehensive study of all the clown characters in Shakespeare's plays. In her introduction, she acknowledges the varied heritage of the Elizabethan clowns. The servants of Roman comedy, the zanni of the commedia dell'arte, the Vices from medieval morality plays, court jesters and country bumpkins are cited as the Elizabethan clowns' ancestors. At this diachronic level her argument is sound.
Videbaek, however, ultimately focuses on a more synchronic notion of the clown developed from clown traits she sees as persistent throughout history. For her, the clown is an artificial creation, a theatrical type rather than a realistic character. He enjoys direct contact with the audience and fulfills a didactic function, acting as the audience's interpretive guide-a mediator between stage and auditorium. He can interact at all social levels and enjoys a freedom of speech which allows him to comment on the action around him. He has a warm heart and a great love for the creature comforts of the world. He talks about sex but is asexual. Videbaek does not openly acknowledge that these traits will be the paradigm through which she will analyze Shakespeare's characters but, as her argument develops, it becomes clear that this is the case. These traits, in fact, come to define her fixed conception of the theatrical clown type. At times she refers to it...