Book Review: Shakespeare in Jest - Indira Ghose

This is a short but interesting look at the way Shakespeare's comedy was understood by his contemporaries - and how his legacy still influences modern comedians.

There's a good deal of discussion about the role comedy played in society, and the interplay between actors and playwright would have worked. But, sadly, it never quite makes the leap to demonstrate the way that. At best, we get fairly generic sketches like:

most of Shakespeare’s witty characters are women. Their legacy is reflected in a surge of vibrant female comedy in the contemporary world.

and

The dynamics between Beatrice and Benedict has inspired countless imitations in romantic comedy, in the theatre as well as in film: it has been a formative influence on the genre of screwball comedy. A latter-day revival of the formula of sparring antagonists who transmute into lovers is to be found in the film Intolerable Cruelty, directed by the Coen brothers.

Perhaps my favourite part was this exploration of MacBeth's Porter:

This is the star turn in the Porter-jester’s repertoire. What remain unclear is the work the jokes are doing. Is Shakespeare baiting Jesuits to play to the crowd? Or could it be the case that by making his jester a drunken lout, he is mocking the mockers, and the rabid anti-Jesuit propaganda that poured from the printing presses?

It's the same about Alf Garnett and Al Murray's Landlord - do those being mocked understand that they're the butt of the joke? Ghose does an excellent job of showing that the issues with humour, racism, and social satire have always been with us.

The book is interesting - I just wish it would have been longer and more detailed.