The stations of the fool

Abstract

ABSTRACTA large proportion of academic studies on clowning focus on the clown possessing the qualities of liminality, as originally formulated by Victor Turner. As this term is used to describe both the agency of the clown symbolically, within the field of literature, and the live relationship with an audience, an unfortunate blurring occurs between these two separate epistemological elements. I am offering a choice of new terms, either ‘performative liminality’ or ‘Immersion theory’ to independently describe the performative element, and distinguish it from the first. Immersion theory describes a typology of performance, relating to how a clown (or performer) positions themselves before an audience, and how an audience perceives this position. In exploring this theme I hope to both provides a dramaturgic frame for performing liminality, and add some further light on Weimann's positioning of the early modern stage into Locus and Platea.