The decline of Roman theatre and the persistence of performance

Popular ludic and mimetic traditions: seasonal rites and processions, mimes, dances, mummings, mock combats, hero combat plays, etc.

Readings:

Robin Hood and the Knight; Robin Hood and the Friar; Robin Hood and the Potter

The Oxfordshire St. George Play and the Lutterworth Christmas Play

The Eydon Mummers and their traditional play .

Mimesis and ritual

The Carolingian troping movement and Quem quaeritis

Forms of the Visitatio Sepulchri ceremony

Readings:

David Bevington, Medieval Drama, selections 1_15 (pp. 3_44)

O. B. Hardison, Jr., Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages(1965), Chapter 1

C. Clifford Flanigan, "The Roman Rite and the Origins of the Liturgical Drama,"University of Toronto Quarterly, 43 (1974), 263_84.

Christmas Plays

Passion Plays

Readings:

Bevington, Medieval Drama, selections 17_19 (pages 51_72)

Benediktbeuren Ludus de Nativitate, Ludus de Rege Aegypti, Ludus de Passione(ca. 1160_1230) from the so_called Carmina Burana manuscript. See Bevington, pages 178_223;

Stephen Wright, "The Play of the King of Egypt: An Early Thirteenth_Century Music_Drama in the Carmina Burana Manuscript," Allegorica, 16 (1995), 47_71.

Susan Rankin, "Liturgical Drama," in The New Oxford History of Music. Vol. 2: The Early Middle Ages to 1300 (1990), pp. 310_356.

Readings:

Hilarius, Iconia Sancti Nicolai

The Fleury Playbook: Filius Getronis, Tres Clerici, Conversio Sancti Pauli Apostoli

C. Clifford Flanigan, "The Fleury Playbook, the Traditions of Medieval Latin Drama, and Modern Scholarship," in The Fleury Playbook: Essays and Studies, ed. Thomas P. Campbell and Clifford Davidson (1985), pp. 1_25.

Readings:

Hrotswitha von Gandersheim, Prefaces, Dulcitius, Paphnutius (tenth century)

Vitalis of Blois, Geta (late twelfth century)

Music, Mysticism, and Ritual in Hildegard's Ordo Virtutum

Readings:

Hildegard von Bingen, Ordo Virtutum

Peter Dronke, "Hildegard of Bingen as Poetess and Dramatist," in Poetic Individuality in the Middle Ages (1970), pp. 150_79.

Robert Potter, "Ordo Virtutum: Ancestor of the English Moralities?" Comparative Drama, 20 (1986), 201_210.

Christian Iconography and Medieval Performance Practices

A. M. Nagler, The Medieval Religious Stage: Shapes and Phantoms (1976)

Clifford Davidson, Drama and Art: An Introduction to the use of Evidence from the Visual Arts for the Study of Early Drama (1977), Chapter 1 and Chapter 10.

The Ludus Danielis and its Contexts

Readings:

Beauvais Ludus Danielis (ca. 1140), in Bevington, Medieval Drama

Margot Fassler, "The Feast of Fools and Ludus Danielis: Popular Tradition in a Medieval Cathedral Play," in Plainsong in the Age of Polyphony, ed. Thomas Forrest Kelly (1992), pp. 65_99.

Iconography exercise due.

Readings:

Anglo_Norman Ordo representationis Ade (Jeu d'Adam)

Erich Auerbach, "Adam and Eve," in Mimesis (1957), Chap. 7.

C. Clifford Flanigan, "Comparative Literature and the Study of Medieval Drama,"Yearbook of Comparative and General Literature, 35 (1986), 56_104.

Mid_term exercise due.

Readings:

Jean Bodel, Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas (Arras, 1199_1202)

Dietrich Schernberg, Ein schoen Spiel von Frau Jutten (Muehlhausen, ca. 1480), trans. Stephen Wright

Readings:

Croxton Play of the Sacrament (East Midlands, after 1461)

Digby Mary Magdalene (East Midlands, late fifteenth century)

Readings:

Adam de la Halle ,Le Jeu de la feuillee (Arras, ca. 1276)

Adam de la Halle ,Le Jeu de Robin et Marion (Arras, ca. 1283)

Le Jeu de Robin et Marion (Bibl. Mejanes, MS. 166 (Res. MS. 14), Aix_en_Provenence )

Eugene Vance, "Le Jeu de la feuill‚e and the Poetics of Charivari," in Modern Language Notes, 100 (1985), 815_28.

The Urban Context of Late Medieval Drama

Mervyn James, "Ritual, Drama, and the Social Body in the Late Medieval English Town," Past and Present, 98 (1983), 3_29.

Claire Sponsler, "The Culture of the Spectator: Conformity and Resistance to Medieval Performances," Theatre Journal, 44 (1992), 15_29.

Stephen K. Wright, "Religious Drama, Civic Ritual, and the Police: The Semiotics of Public Safety in Late Medieval Germany," Theatre Annual: A Journal of Performance Studies, 51 (1998), 1_14.

York Cycle in Toronto

Readings:

Innsbruck (Thuringian) Easter Play (mid_fourteenth century), trans. Stephen Wright

Two Christmas Plays from the Erlau Playbook, trans. Stephen Wright

Readings:

Jour du Jugement (early fourteenth century)

Minatures from Besancon MS. 579

Medieval Drama, ed. David Bevington (1975)

Antichrist and Judgment Day: The Middle French "Jour du Jugement," trans. Richard Emmerson and David Hult (1998)

Hans Sachs, Nine Carnival Plays, trans. R. Listerman (1990)

Package of photocopied materials available at CUA Bookstore

Secondary criticism (articles and books) are available at Mullen Library, Central Reserve

Research Paper (25%): An article_length essay (15_25 pages) written in MLA format on a topic to be selected in consultation with the instructor. In addition to displaying a thorough understanding of the primary text(s), the essay should also demonstrate knowledge of the current state of the critical dialogue on the chosen topic. The essay is due at the final class meeting.

Final Examination (25%): A comprehensive two_hour in_class examination over all texts and materials covered in class. The exam will consist of two parts: a number of short_answer identifications and a long essay.

Preparation and participation (25%): Weekly reading assignments are listed in the syllabus.

Special projects (25%)

Last Revised 04-Jan-06 06:54 PM.