Abstract: '"Our hurtless mirth": What's Funny about The Dutch Courtesan' (Julian)
Dublin Core
Title
Abstract: '"Our hurtless mirth": What's Funny about The Dutch Courtesan' (Julian)
Subject
The Dutch Courtesan, "Marston, John", Dutch Courtesan 2019, Toronto Dutch Courtesan, conference abstract, early modern drama, non-Shakespearean drama, humour, violence
Description
Abstract for Erin Julian's '"Our hurtless mirth": What's Funny about The Dutch Courtesan?'. Includes biography for Julian.
Creator
"Julian, Erin"
Date
2019-03-23, 1605, 17th century, 21st century
Contributor
Dutch Courtesan 2019 project team
Relation
The Dutch Courtesan, Toronto Dutch Courtesan production
Format
.pdf (96KB)
Language
en-CA
Type
Text Object
Identifier
DC2019-0007
Coverage
Toronto (CA), London (UK), 2019-03-22-23, 1605, 17th century
Date Available
2019-06-30
Date Created
2019-03
References
The Dutch Courtesan, Toronto Dutch Courtesan production
Extent
96KB
Medium
Digital PDF
Bibliographic Citation
Julian, Erin. '"Our hurtless mirth": What's Funny about The Dutch Courtesan'?. Abstract. 'Strangers and Aliens in London and Toronto: Sex, Religion, and Xenophobia in John Marston's The Dutch Courtesan'. DC2019-0007. Dutch Courtesan 2019. Toronto, March 2019. https://dutchcourtesan2019.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/35
Spatial Coverage
Toronto (CA), London (UK)
Temporal Coverage
2019-03-23, 1605, 17th century
Accrual Method
Materials solicited by the Dutch Courtesan project team.
Accrual Periodicity
Infrequently updated after 2019.
Audience
researchers, researchers of early modern drama, university instructors, undergraduate students, graduate students, actors
Audience Education Level
Post-Secondary, Graduate, Post-Graduate
Instructional Method
large-group instruction, small-group instruction, independent research, Performance as Research
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
‘“Our hurtless mirth”: What’s Funny about The Dutch Courtesan’ (Panel 4: Learning from Rehearsal and Production – 2:15-3:30PM, 23 March 2019)
Erin Julian (Independent)
Given its themes of misogyny, xenophobia, and religious violence, The Dutch Courtesan is an unpromising vehicle for laughter. This paper draws from observations and discussions about the play's humour that took place during the rehearsal to articulate how the 2019 Dutch Courtesan harnessed the play's humour to expose the fractures in the play's London community, and to suggest the fatalism of city comedy competition. The production pushed plots and characters to ever greater extremes of absurdity and laughter, right up to the breaking point of audience laughter, to the point of anxiety and pain. In these moments the production opened a critical eye to the worst of the city’s practices, spotlighting, in the process, those who are most vulnerable to urban violence: women, sex workers,
and religious and ethnic 'others'.
Erin Julian graduated from the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster
University. Her research focuses on sexual violence in early modern drama (particularly comedy), and diversity and equity work more generally. Her recent and forthcoming publications include ‘Practicing Diversity at the Stratford Festival of Canada: Shakespeare, Performance, and Ethics in
the Twenty-First Century’ in The Arden Research Companion to Shakespeare and Contemporary Performance (eds Kirwan and Prince, Bloomsbury, 2020); 'What's Funny about The Dutch Courtesan?' (Early
Theatre, 2020); 'Labour of Care: Academic Theatre Research in the Commercial Theatre' (Shakespeare Bulletin, forthcoming); ‘New Directions in Jonson Criticism’ (Early Theatre, 2014); and
The Alchemist: A Critical Reader (eds Julian and Ostovich, Bloomsbury, 2013). She is also co-editor of The Dutch Courtesan for the Oxford University Press The Complete Works of John Marston.
Erin Julian (Independent)
Given its themes of misogyny, xenophobia, and religious violence, The Dutch Courtesan is an unpromising vehicle for laughter. This paper draws from observations and discussions about the play's humour that took place during the rehearsal to articulate how the 2019 Dutch Courtesan harnessed the play's humour to expose the fractures in the play's London community, and to suggest the fatalism of city comedy competition. The production pushed plots and characters to ever greater extremes of absurdity and laughter, right up to the breaking point of audience laughter, to the point of anxiety and pain. In these moments the production opened a critical eye to the worst of the city’s practices, spotlighting, in the process, those who are most vulnerable to urban violence: women, sex workers,
and religious and ethnic 'others'.
Erin Julian graduated from the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster
University. Her research focuses on sexual violence in early modern drama (particularly comedy), and diversity and equity work more generally. Her recent and forthcoming publications include ‘Practicing Diversity at the Stratford Festival of Canada: Shakespeare, Performance, and Ethics in
the Twenty-First Century’ in The Arden Research Companion to Shakespeare and Contemporary Performance (eds Kirwan and Prince, Bloomsbury, 2020); 'What's Funny about The Dutch Courtesan?' (Early
Theatre, 2020); 'Labour of Care: Academic Theatre Research in the Commercial Theatre' (Shakespeare Bulletin, forthcoming); ‘New Directions in Jonson Criticism’ (Early Theatre, 2014); and
The Alchemist: A Critical Reader (eds Julian and Ostovich, Bloomsbury, 2013). She is also co-editor of The Dutch Courtesan for the Oxford University Press The Complete Works of John Marston.
Original Format
PDF
Files
Citation
"Julian, Erin", “Abstract: '"Our hurtless mirth": What's Funny about The Dutch Courtesan' (Julian),” Dutch Courtesan 2019, accessed April 25, 2025, https://dutchcourtesan2019.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/35.
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