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WILL:
When the theatre reopened, the audience came in carrying private funerals.

They had lost parents, children, friends, patrons, rivals.
They had seen doors marked.
They had heard carts.
They had watched the city grow quiet.

So when they watched tragedy, they were not merely entertained—
they were rehearsing mortality in public.

GEORGE:
That aligns with scholarship arguing that early modern tragic drama helped audiences imagine and process mortality—that theatre became one of the culture’s instruments for dealing with death. 

WILL:
Yes.
And comedy served them too—because laughter was proof they were still alive.

But here is the key:
grief made them better listeners.

GEORGE:
Better listeners.

WILL:
Yes.
When you’ve buried someone, words change weight.
A threat sounds sharper.
A reconciliation sounds holier.
A betrayal sounds personal.

The audience did not hear with leisure.
They heard with history.

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