Overview

Laughter, Power, and the Unconscious offers paradigm-breaking insights into the psychological and sociopolitical dimensions of humour and comedy. Based on an innovative audience experiment at Shakespeare's Globe, the authors develop a revolutionary theory of humour as manic defence, challenging Freud's classic formulations while engaging with contemporary humour theories. The text explores three key domains: firstly, it establishes and evaluates the theory in comparison to Freud's work in Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious, while positioning it within major humour frameworks; secondly, it demonstrates the theory's application to Renaissance comedy, examining characters like Malvolio from Twelfth Night alongside stock figures of cuckolds and madmen in both English theatrical traditions and commedia dell'arte; finally, it investigates the theory's broader sociopolitical relevance by analysing war-related humour and racist jokes while addressing comedy's dual capacity to both challenge and reinforce existing power structures. This volume will appeal to the scholars and students of theatre and performance studies, psychology, literary theory and cultural studies interested in the sociopolitical implications of humour.

Full Product Details

Author:   Maria Grazia Turri ,  Bridget Escolme (Queen Mary, University of London, UK)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.670kg
ISBN:  

9780367633172

ISBN 10:   0367633175
Pages:   262
Publication Date:   31 October 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1. Introduction: The Research in Action audience experiment at Shakespeare’s Globe Bridget Escolme and Maria Grazia Turri Chapter 2. Psychoanalytic rationale of the audience experiment Maria Grazia Turri Chapter 3. Researching unconscious responses to early modern characters at Shakespeare’s Globe: Results Maria Grazia Turri Chapter 4. A new theory of humour as manic defence Maria Grazia Turri Chapter 5. Reading theories of humour through the manic defence Maria Grazia Turri Chapter 6. The ecology of laughter and humour at the intersection of culture and biology Maria Grazia Turri Chapter 7. New insights into the socio-politics of humour Maria Grazia Turri Chapter 8. The historicised subject: Psychoanalytic discourse, Cultural Materialism, laughter and power Bridget Escolme Chapter 9. Cuckolds and madmen: Comic strength in the notoriously weak Bridget Escolme Chapter 10. Laughing with the ‘whole pack’ of us: Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and comic strength in contemporary production of early modern drama Bridget Escolme Chapter 11. Reading comedy as genre through the manic defence Maria Grazia Turri Chapter 12. Elements of unconscious emotional processes for a socio-politics of comedy Maria Grazia Turri Conclusions. A Dialogue Index

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Author Information

Maria Grazia Turri is Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts and Mental Health at Queen Mary University of London, UK. She is a former psychiatrist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Bridget Escolme is Professor of Theatre and Performance at Queen Mary University of London. She is co-convenor of Queen Mary’s MSc Creative Arts and Mental Health.

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