Dr. Ruth Adams gave a paper at the Fourth Annual Comedy Conference

Earlier this month Dr. Ruth Adams gave a paper at the Fourth Annual Comedy Conference in Manchester, ‘So Funny It Hurts’ – http://www.famss.salford.ac.uk/page/4th-comedy-conference-2010

Ruth gave a paper on Mike Leigh’s iconic 1970s play Abigail’s Party, in which she discussed – drawing on the writings of the French philospher Henri Bergson – whether this was, as a number of contemporary critics claimed, a cruel play, or a play about cruelty. Either way, it’s certainly funny.

Ruth enjoyed meeting academics from all over the country and from a wide range of disciplines, from history and sociology to film studies and drama, some of whom were involved in the production of the current exhibition of comic art, ‘Rude Britannia’, at Tate Britain – http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/britishcomicart/ and the accompanying BBC4 series – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ssz7f