Laughter and sin: Vice families in Tudor interludes

As well as the dominant stage figure of the Vice, many Tudor interludes present close-knit groups of vice-characters that claim familial relationships with each other. Such groupings have moral implications for the psychology and theology of sin, but more immediately they lend themselves to particularly vivid comic routines, and techniques for audience-interaction. The Vices and vice-families are vividly revealing of comedic stage practice, but they also shape the responses of the audience to the moral implications of their plays. This paper draws on analogies with the modern performance of stand-up comedy to explore the complex implications of vice-generated laughter.