« Laws for laughing ! » : discours théorique et pratique thếâtrale sur la scène comique du XVIIIe siècle

Abstract

This article aims to show the contradictions between the theoretical discourse on laughter in the 18th-century and the actual theatrical practice at the time. First it focuses on a major aspect of the debate on the regularity and legitimacy of comedy concerning the nature of the comic and the object of laughter. On the one hand theorists offer definitions of humour, raillery and ridicule and they assess the laughter on the basis of whether it is either proper or improper. On the other hand, the making of the repertory and the programming of official theatres show that the laughter of farce, considered coarse and often aggressive, was the one that made theatres prosper and flourish. The popularity of mimicry, practiced by the greatest actors, is then analyzed in the wider context of eighteenth-century comic acting, focusing particularly on the grotesque theatricalization of the body. Finally, it is argued that the licensing of dramatic texts, introduced by the 1737 Act, was an attempt to purge the stage of its obscenity, in the name of the propriety required by the middle-class audience, and of any political satire, as evidenced by the long battle Charles Macklin had with the Lord Chamberlain. Satirical laughter, however, held its ground in Samuel Foote’s personal caricatures and through acting tricks added to the texts that had been previously submitted to the Censor.