Four hundred years ago, Robert Burton spent his entire life alone in a library trying to write the definitive book on sadness. He proposed cures ranging from "mirth and merry company" to "fomentations of oil for the belly." Before he died, Burton became one of the most widely read authors in English. Almost nobody alive today remembers his name. From the Eno River Players, The Anatomy of Melancholy is a new comedy that tries to bring him back, with three actors, one mopey penguin, and the question he never escaped: why are we so sad, and what are we supposed to do about it?