dumb show

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dumb show

dumb show a theatrical pantomime included as part of a drama, especially in Elizabethan works, from the middle of the 16th cent. well into the 17th cent. Whether presented as a spectacle, with music, or as a masque with the players as allegorical characters, the dumb show appeared as prologue, between the acts, or during the play itself. It usually either presaged the events of the play or interpreted them as a chorus does.

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dumb show

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | | Â© The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature 2003, originally published by Oxford University Press 2003. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

dumb show, a piece of silent action or stage business, especially in the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre. These shows, such as the one before the play scene in Hamlet, suggest by mime and symbolism what is shortly to take place and its meaning.

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "dumb show." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 17 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "dumb show." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (December 17, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-dumbshow.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "dumb show." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved December 17, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-dumbshow.html

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Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauruses

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music entry for mimodrama

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