Workshop Discoveries 2: The Mode of Marston’s Humour
As Peter Cockett reminded us, pathos does not exclude satire or laughter. Indeed, successful clowning usually depends on the ability to switch from heightened and sincere emotion (grief, love, anger) to cartoonish pratfalls and buffoonery on a dime. The two modes work off each other, revealing a truth at the heart of a drama. In the Toronto Dutch Courtesan, moments such as Freevill Sr’s comically impromptu proposal, or, elsewhere, Franceschina’s almost cartoonish villainy (such as when she played her speeches of vengeance under a demonically red spotlight), work to set off the sudden plunge into high tragedy that Beatrice’s tears elicit. Most audiences are not only willing to suspend their disbelief and follow the dynamic emotional arc of the play, but do so without thinking. Such are the skills of a good clown. We should also recall that Dutch Courtesan was written for the Children of the Queen’s Revels. Boys’ companies not only featured boisterous athleticism and boyish humour, but we have also seen, through the work of the Oxford Marston project and companies like Edward’s Boys, how the youthfulness of boys can elicit a strong and genuine pathos. We can surmise that early modern audiences were used to the modal switches of boys’ plays. As our cast and audience discovered, not attempting to impose a consistency on Marston’s play is what makes it work.