Medieval flashmob to rouse York residents

Shoppers in York city centre will find themselves in the middle of a flashmob with a difference this weekend, as performing arts students stage impromptu medieval dance mobs.

The event, planned for Parliament Street and St Helen’s Square, is being planned by the York College students as part of the Residents Festival, but also as a prelim to the summer’s Mystery Plays spectacular.

Organisers of the Plays have also revealed tickets to the outdoor performances in the Museum Gardens in August will be sold at a special discount to local residents during the weekend.

A spokesman said up to 500 residents would be able to get ten per cent off when buying two tickets. All they needed to do was visit York Theatre Royal Box Office in person between 10am and 8pm on Saturday and between noon and 4pm on Sunday with a valid York Card.

Click here to read this article from the York Press

The Farce of the Fart – new book offers scandalous plays from medieval France

They were the sitcoms of their time –– lowbrow comedies that lampooned every serious topic, from sex and relationships to politics and religion. In her new book, ‘The Farce of the Fart’ and Other Ribaldries –– Twelve Medieval French Plays in Modern English, Jody Enders, a professor of French at University of California – Santa Barbara, translates a dozen of these theatrical gems and brings them into the 21st century.

More than a study in literary criticism, for entertainment value and a peek into 15th- and 16th-century life and wit, ” ‘The Farce of the Fart’ and Other Ribaldries, ” is unequaled. Enders captures the colorful characters, coarse humor, and outrageous plot lines of medieval dramas that have, for the most part, been inaccessible to contemporary readers and theater audiences. “Except for about a dozen from the hundreds that have survived over the centuries, none have been translated into English,” Enders said. “And many of them haven’t been translated into modern French, or any modern vernacular. So they’re kind of untouched.”

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Professor earns fellowship to research medieval English morality plays

Gail McMurray Gibson said that her college professors first sparked her interest in medieval studies. She has pursued that interest and become one of the most inspiring and decorated teachers in Davidson College. She has received the college’s Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award, and was named North Carolina Professor of the Year in 1987 by the national Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

Now Gibson has received yet another honor — a short-term fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library to conduct research for a chapter of a new book she’s writing titled Medieval Drama in Afterlife. Each chapter concerns the way that medieval Catholic religious drama texts continued to be defiantly protected after England adopted the Protestant Reformation.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Medieval Latin Play at King's College London, April 1

The Department of History at King's College London will present the Ludus de Antichristo (Play of the Antichrist), as its sixth annual mediaeval Latin play. The performance takes place on Friday 1 April at 19.30 in the College Chapel. Entrance is free and all are welcome.

This is a rare opportunity to see performed one of the finest surviving medieval Latin dramas. In simple and elegant rhyming couplets, the Ludus de Antichristo narrates the coming to earth of the Antichrist, as predicted in the Old and New Testaments. The Antichrist is welcomed as the Messiah by the Church and Synagogue, and by the Holy Roman Emperor and the kings of Europe and Asia. His ultimate aim is to submit the whole world to Satan’s power, before he is unmasked by the true prophets of God.

Click here for more information from King's College London

17th Annual ACMRS Conference: Performance and Theatricality in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

The Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) has issued a Call for Papers for their 17th Annual ACMRS Conference, which will be held in Tempe, Arizona from February 10-12, 2011.

The ACMRS Annual Conference is an interdisciplinary conference that provides scholars with the opportunity to present research on all topics related to the study of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. While the conference always has a focused theme, ACMRS welcomes papers on any topic related to the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The theme for the 2011 conference is Performance and Theatricality, a platform for critical interpretations of the dramaturgy, versification, and staging of Medieval and Renaissance life. Proposal topics could include, but are not limited to, oral-memorial performance (minstrels, jongleurs, scops, etc.), song, instrumental music, plays/dramas (liturgical, mystery plays, moralities, sotties, farces, etc.), reading aloud, the performative use of texts/images/objects, images of performance, ceremony and ritual, discourses on performers and performance (sermons, prohibitions, etc.), and self-representation (identity as performance).

Selected papers related to the conference theme will be considered for publication in the conference volume of the Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance series, published by Brepols Publishers.

The conference keynote speaker will be Pamela Sheingorn. Dr. Sheingorn specializes in the European Middle Ages, especially in visual, cultural, and women's history. Her research areas include hagiography, drama, and visual culture. Her books include: Myth, Montage, and the Visible in Late Medieval Manuscript Culture: Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea (2003, co-authored with Marilynn Desmond); Writing Faith: Text, Sign, and History in the Miracles of Sainte Foy (1999, co-authored with Kathleen Ashley); The Book of Sainte Foy (1995); Interpreting Cultural Symbols: St. Anne in Late Medieval Society (1990); and The Easter Sepulchre in England (1987). Her current research projects focus on representations of the late medieval family, medieval masculinities, a cultural history of Joseph the Carpenter, and illuminations in medieval drama manuscripts.

Before the conference, ACMRS will host a workshop on manuscript studies to be led by Timothy Graham, Director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of New Mexico. The workshop will be Thursday afternoon, February 10, and participation will be limited to 25 participants, who will be determined by the order in which registrations are received. Email acmrs@asu.edu with “conference workshop” as the subject line to be added to the list. The cost of the workshop is $25 and is in addition to the regular conference registration fee.

The deadline for proposals is 9:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on 17 October 2010. Proposals must include audio/visual requirements and any other special requests. Subsequent a/v requests may not be honored without additional charge. In order to streamline the committee review process, submissions will only be accepted at http://link.library.utoronto.ca/acmrs/conference/ from 1 June through 17 October 2010.

For more details call 480-965-9323 or email acmrs@asu.edu.

University students make modern versions of medieval mystery plays

The Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and medieval mystery plays – these are all expectations most students would have for a Middle English Literature class. But honing one’s acting skills is probably not high on the list of expectations. Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) students in Damian Fleming’s class got a mix of both this past semester along with a greater understanding of medieval literature.

Fleming, Ph.D. and assistant professor of English and linguistics, divided his class into groups and challenged each to re-enact a York mystery play while maintaining the same amount of language, rephrasing it into modern English, and taking the same liberties as they would have in medieval times.

The York Mystery Plays, also known as the York Corpus Christi Plays, were a cycle of 48 plays covering religious history from the creation to the last judgment. They were enacted on the feast day of Corpus Christi in the city of York. The plays followed orthodox teaching, but had a slapstick edge to them. “While these plays are a bit controversial today, the medieval audience wouldn’t have been offended by them,” said Fleming.

Fleming asked his class to not only translate medieval mystery plays into modern-day language, but also turn those translations into productions that could help their classmates better understand both the Middle English language and the context in which they were performed. His goals were to teach the students how to read literature and translate it, get past the difficulty level and appreciate the information, and feel comfortable.

“I wanted them to get the jokes within the plays themselves,” said Fleming. “I wanted the students to take the same liberties with the material as the original presenters did. This assignment was not based on great theatre, but rather a way to get students engaged in material. Presenting the material in public brought the preparation up a notch.”

So how did the students handle the difficult language and the pressure to perform? Christopher “C.Ray” Harvey, an IPFW senior, worked with his group to enact the story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace. He said he would recommend other professors use similar techniques.

“Personally, I found the activity challenging, but enjoyable,” said Harvey. “Not to get cheesy/spiritual, but every translation includes part of the translator. Our task was to reinvent the York script, a task that requires one to break down the language and the intent in order to repackage it. Going through this process allowed me to gain a better understanding of the concerns, motivations, etc. of the York authors, especially in terms of their religious lives.”

How did the students fare in their medieval endeavor? Fleming said just about everyone got an A. “We didn't shy away from competition,” said Harvey. “I think competitive spirit probably played a key role in the York tradition. As people undergo an exhausting tour of an entire town, traveling from scene to scene, I imagine that every group worked to make their assigned play stand out.”

Click here to go to the Class website

The Chester Cycle of Medieval Mystery Plays - London performance

MEDIEVAL MYSTERY PLAYS PERFORMED IN CITY
By Emma Foster
20 November 2008
Press Association Regional Newswire - London


A series of medieval mystery plays will be performed in the City of London this week. The Players of St Peter are performing The Chester Cycle of Medieval Mystery Plays at the Wren Church of St Clement Eastcheap, from November 24 to 28.

Laura Barber, the Players' publicity officer, said: "We are the only group of actors - or players - performing these pre-restoration Plays in the City of London. They date back to the 15th Century. These plays were taken from the Christian gospel but appeal to all who are interested in the theatre or, indeed, English history. We turn the fine Wren Church of St Clement's into a theatre for the duration of the performance week."

The mystery plays are an English tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. They were developed to present scenes from the bible at a time when few people could read. The Player's director Olive Stubbs said: "We will open with a prologue setting the basic theme of the creation and fall as Lucifer tempts man from original harmony with God. Our focus is then on the arrival of the Christ child into a busy imperial world with its impact felt on visionaries and local townsfolk alike. The famous Shepherds' play with its feast and fights and singing establishes the Christmas story in a local context. We then see Christ as an adult finding his identity by meeting the challenge of Lucifer and later - following his death - coming to release the good people of the past from the darkness of hell back into reunion with God. Finally Christ returns to his earthly companions to give them hope and purpose before ascending to the harmony of heaven himself in order to prepare a way for them. We hope that you will enjoy these plays as much as we do, and that they will provide a happy start to your Christmas season."

There will be two performances of each text per day in the church on Clement's Lane in the City of London at 6.30pm and 8.30pm. Tickets are priced £7.50 and £6 and there is a discount for students at the 8.30pm performance. For more information or to book tickets visit www.theplayersofstpeter.org.uk.