Dumbshow, also dumb show or dumb-show, is defined by the ''

Oxford Dictionary of English The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''ODE'') is a single-volume English dictionary published by Oxford University Press, first published in 1998 as ''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''NODE''). The word "new" was dropped from the titl ...

'' as "gestures used to convey a meaning or message without speech; mime." In the theatre the word refers to a piece of dramatic mime in general, or more particularly a piece of action given in mime within a play "to summarise, supplement, or comment on the main action". In the ''Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance'', Michael Dobson writes that the dumbshow was originally "an allegorical survival from the morality play". It came into fashion in 16th-century English drama in interludes featuring "personifications of abstract virtues and vices who contend in ways which foreshadow and moralize the fortunes of the play's characters".Dobson, Michael
"dumb show"
''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance'', Oxford University Press, 2003, retrieved 29 November 2015 There are examples in ''

Gorboduc Gorboduc ('' Welsh:'' Gorwy or Goronwy) was a legendary king of the Britons as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was married to Judon. When he became old, his sons, Ferrex and Porrex, feuded over who would take over the kingdom. Porrex tried ...

'' (1561) throughout which dumbshow plays a major part, and in

Thomas Kyd Thomas Kyd (baptised 6 November 1558; buried 15 August 1594) was an English playwright, the author of '' The Spanish Tragedy'', and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama. Although well known in his own time, ...

's ''

The Spanish Tragedy ''The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again'' is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592. Highly popular and influential in its time, ''The Spanish Tragedy'' established a new genre in English theatre, the rev ...

'' (1580s),

George Peele George Peele (baptised 25 July 1556 – buried 9 November 1596) was an English translator, poet, and dramatist, who is most noted for his supposed but not universally accepted collaboration with William Shakespeare on the play '' Titus Andronicu ...

's ''

The Battle of Alcazar ''The Battle of Alcazar'' is a play attributed to George Peele, perhaps written no later than late 1591 if the play "Muly Molucco" mentioned in Henslowe's diary is this play (see below), and published anonymously in 1594, that tells the story o ...

'' (1594) and '' The Old Wives' Tale'' (1595), Robert Greene's '' Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay'' (1594) and the anonymous ''A Warning for Fair Women'' (1599).Cuddon, pp. 244–245

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

used dumbshow in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

,'' for the

play within a play A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes ...

staged by Prince Hamlet and the players for King Claudius. That, like Revenge's dumbshow in ''The Spanish Tragedy'', suggests by mime the action soon to take place in the main spoken drama.Birch, Dinah
"dumb show"
''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', Oxford University Press, 2009, retrieved 29 November 2015 In Dobson's view the dumbshow was becoming old-fashioned by Shakespeare's time, and the playwright's most elaborate dumbshows are in '' Pericles'', a play intentionally constructed in "a mock-medieval dramatic idiom". In the 17th century, dumbshow survived as an element of the courtly masque, and in the Jacobean tragedies of Webster and Middleton dumbshows are featured in masque-within-the-play episodes. From the 1630s the dumbshow no longer featured in mainstream British drama, but it resurfaced in

harlequinade ''Harlequinade'' is a British comic theatrical genre, defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th cent ...

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speakin ...

s and

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exce ...

s in the 19th century. Thomas Holcroft introduced a dumb character in his play ''A Tale of Mystery'' (1802), and the device of using a mute to convey essential facts by dumbshow became a regular feature of melodramas. In his ''Dictionary of Literary Terms'' (first published in 1977), J. A. Cuddon lists 19th century plays with the titles ''The Dumb Boy'' (1821), ''The Dumb Brigand'' (1832), ''The Dumb Recruit'' (1840), ''The Dumb Driver'' (1849) and ''The Dumb Sailor'' (1854). Cuddon notes three 20th century instances of dumbshow in

André Obey André Obey (; 8 May 1892 at Douai, France – 11 April 1975 at Montsoreau, near the river Loire) was a prominent French playwright during the inter-war years, and into the 1950s. He began as a novelist and produced an autobiographical novel ab ...

's ''Le Viol de Lucrece'' (1931),

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

's '' Waiting for Godot'' (1953) and

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and polit ...

's '' Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' (1966).

Notes

Sources

* {{Hamlet Theatre in the United Kingdom Stage terminology Mime