Shakespeare’s comedies are conventionally thought of as being romances – which they are – but they were also meant to amuse his audiences. Sometimes he did this by inserting a comic scene. In other cases, the whole play was written as a comic piece. We shall make full use of actual performances and study some scenes in detail to see how Shakespeare set about amusing his audiences and how modern directors try to get audiences to laugh, as well as exploring the theory and practice of comedy from Shakespearian times to the present day. All-comers welcome.