MARC21: Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)

Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)

The bed or couch in Ben Jonson’s Volpone is, like many theatrical beds, never a place of rest. Instead, it is the play’s foremost metatheatrical locus, a conceptual and material stage and tiring house that facilitates theatrical deceit beyond the bed-trick. This paper argues that Jonson’s play invok...

Descrizione completa

Salvato in:

Dettagli Bibliografici
Pubblicato in:	URI:https://journals.openedition.org/asf,
Autore principale:	Mayo, Sarah
Natura:	Article ou chapitre numérique
Lingua:	Anglais
Pubblicazione:	Arrêt sur scène / Scene Focus 2022
Soggetti:	théâtre scènes de lit Volpone Ben Jonson élisabéthain lit representation espace bedchamber scenes theatre Elizabethan bed performance space
Accesso online:	Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM

id	openedition-oai:revues.org:asf_607
record_format	openedition
spelling	openedition-oai:revues.org:asf_607 https://doi.org/10.4000/asf.607 urn:doi:10.4000/asf.607 en https://journals.openedition.org/asf/607 2022-12-01T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/a4ae https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606) Arrêt sur scène / Scene Focus IRCL (UMR 5186) CNRS/Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2268-977X URI:https://journals.openedition.org/asf Mayo, Sarah théâtre scènes de lit Volpone Ben Jonson élisabéthain lit representation espace bedchamber scenes theatre Volpone Ben Jonson Elizabethan bed performance space The bed or couch in Ben Jonson’s Volpone is, like many theatrical beds, never a place of rest. Instead, it is the play’s foremost metatheatrical locus, a conceptual and material stage and tiring house that facilitates theatrical deceit beyond the bed-trick. This paper argues that Jonson’s play invokes the bed as an already performative space, wherein actions of love and death are given social meaning, in order to translate its connotations and functions into theatrical ones: Volpone never occupies the bed as a dying man or a lover, but he crafts his theatrical manoeuvrings through the expectations that as a man lying in bed he should be one or the other. When removed from the bed and its suggested scripts, forced to improvise in front of the Avocatori, Volpone’s performance collapses. The paper concludes that as the connotations of bed-space have changed over time, with experiences of chronic illness and death removed to hospitals, our understanding of how deeply rooted Volpone’s performance is in the bed as social object may be obscured. Comme tant d’autres lits scéniques, le lit, ou la couche, dans Volpone, de Ben Jonson, n’est jamais un lieu de repos. C’est au contraire l’espace métathéâtral par excellence de la pièce, un site conceptuel et matériel, la loge des acteurs, encourageant l’illusion théâtrale au-delà du stratagème du lit. Cet article démontre que Jonson évoque le lit comme un espace déjà performatif en soi, où l’amour et la mort prennent un sens social, afin d’en traduire les connotations et fonctions en rôles théâtraux : Volpone n’occupe jamais le lit en tant que mourant ou qu’amant, mais il élabore ses manipulations théâtrales conformément aux attentes qu’un homme dans un lit se doit d’être l’un ou l’autre. Une fois qu’il quitte son lit et le scénario qu’il suggère, contraint d’improviser devant les Avocatori, Volpone voit son jeu s’effondrer. L’article conclut que, dans la mesure où les connotations liées au lit ont évolué au fil du temps, l’expérience de la maladie chronique et de la mort étant déplacée vers les hôpitaux, nous ne percevons peut-être pas aujourd’hui combien le jeu de Volpone est ancrée dans le lit comme objet social.
collection	OpenEdition Journal
language	Anglais
format	Article ou chapitre numérique
building	0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic	théâtre scènes de lit Volpone Ben Jonson élisabéthain lit representation espace bedchamber scenes theatre Volpone Ben Jonson Elizabethan bed performance space
spellingShingle	théâtre scènes de lit Volpone Ben Jonson élisabéthain lit representation espace bedchamber scenes theatre Volpone Ben Jonson Elizabethan bed performance space Mayo, Sarah Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)
description	The bed or couch in Ben Jonson’s Volpone is, like many theatrical beds, never a place of rest. Instead, it is the play’s foremost metatheatrical locus, a conceptual and material stage and tiring house that facilitates theatrical deceit beyond the bed-trick. This paper argues that Jonson’s play invokes the bed as an already performative space, wherein actions of love and death are given social meaning, in order to translate its connotations and functions into theatrical ones: Volpone never occupies the bed as a dying man or a lover, but he crafts his theatrical manoeuvrings through the expectations that as a man lying in bed he should be one or the other. When removed from the bed and its suggested scripts, forced to improvise in front of the Avocatori, Volpone’s performance collapses. The paper concludes that as the connotations of bed-space have changed over time, with experiences of chronic illness and death removed to hospitals, our understanding of how deeply rooted Volpone’s performance is in the bed as social object may be obscured.
author	Mayo, Sarah
author_facet	Mayo, Sarah
author_sort	Mayo, Sarah
title	Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)
title_short	Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)
title_full	Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)
title_fullStr	Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)
title_full_unstemmed	Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)
title_sort	performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of jonson’s volpone (1606)
publisher	Arrêt sur scène / Scene Focus
publishDate	2022
container_title	URI:https://journals.openedition.org/asf
url	https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/asf.607 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/asf/607
_version_	1877293002103193600

Performing power and the power of performance in the bed-space of Jonson’s Volpone (1606)

Documenti analoghi