BMNAN01100 Module 4

Medieval English Theatre

BMNAN 01100A Module 4: Social and Cultural History

The Social and Cultural Context of Medieval Theatre

Thu 8.30-11.30 (with intermittent break)

Lecturer: Karáth Tamás ()

Office hours: Wed 11.45-12.30, Thu 11.45-12.30 (Amb 133)

Welcome to the workshop on medieval English theatre. The focus of the discussions will be on the social and cultural context of the medieval English stage (community production, staging, drama and devotion, staging medieval discourses). For this purpose, the first two sessions will provide you with a survey of the variety of texts, genres and performing practices in medieval England. We will look at the main themes, staging conventions, aspects of performance in this survey of liturgical plays, interludes, mysteries and moralities. The introductory classes will be followed by thematic approaches to the plays. We will discuss the interrelations of drama and stage with civic (town) organization, collective identities, religious practices and beliefs, devotion, education and many other aspects of human life.

Requirements

The course is a seminar, which requires your regular presence (you cannot miss more than 2 blocks of 3 hours), preparation of the home readings and active class participation. Everyone will have to volunteer for the moderation of one class. Your course achievement will be assessed on the basis of your contribution (20%), your seminar paper (45%) and the end-of-term ppt presentation (35%) in frames of a MA mini-conference. The parameters of the written tasks will be discussed in detail the first class. The seminar papers have to be written according to the formal and editorial standards of the MA thesis guidelines of the Department:

The last session will entirely be devoted to the mini-conference, at which you will have to present (individually or in pair) a research project you will have achieved by the end of this semester. The projects have to be related to medieval English theatre, and have to discuss any social or cultural aspect of this field. The deadlines of the internal phases of the project in progress (submission of project plan, submission of a tentative bibliography with a corpus of primary sources, submission of the outline of the presentation, and submission of a draft ppt) will be indicated in the calendar below.

Course calendar

Week / Discussion topics and readings / Deadlines/Submissions
13 Feb / A dramatic encounter with medieval literature: Contexts for drama and stage. A survey of the variety of texts and performing traditions in medieval England.
20 Feb / Liturgy and drama
27 Feb / The concept of history – Salvation history
The Chester Fall of Lucifer; Adam and Eve; Noah’s Flood; Abraham and Isaac
The York Fall of Man / Submission of project plan
6 March / Passion and passions: Violence on stage
The YorkSlaughter of the Innocents
The York Crucifixion
The N-Town Passion Play, Part II
13 March / Women on stage
The N-Town Mary Plays (The Trial of Mary and Joseph, The Nativity)
20 March / Social order and travesty
The Wakefield Second Shepherd’s Play
Dame Sirith / Submission of tentative bibliography
27 March / Power, authority and law
The N-Town Christ and the Doctors
The N-Town Woman Taken in Adultery
The Chester Last Judgement
3 April / Guest lecture TBA
10 April / Drama and repentance
The Digby Mary Magdalene
17 April / Spring break
24 April / Spring break
1 May / Labour Day
8 May / The “Other”
The Croxton Play of the Sacrament / Submission of draft ppt
15 May / Mini-conference: Presentation of research projects / Submission of papers

Readings for the classes

(1) From the Chester Mystery Cycle (

The Fall of Lucifer (

Adam and Eve (

Noah’s Flood, lines 1-375 (

The Sacrifice of Isaac, lines 1-268 (

(2) From the N-Town Cycle (

The Trial of Mary and Joseph (

The Nativity (

Christ and the Doctors (

Passion Play II (

(3) From the Wakefield Cycle

The Second Shepherd’s Play (

(4) From the York Cycle (

The Fall of Man (

The Slaughter of the Innocents (

The Crucifixion (

(5) Non-Cycle Plays

Dame Sirith (

The Digby Mary Magdalene

(

The Croxton Play of the Sacrament

(

Suggested secondary literature for discussion moderators:

Beadle, Richard, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1995. (Faculty Library shelf-mark: 236:222 (1); 254:121)

Happé, Peter. “Introduction” in English Mystery Plays: A Selection. Ed. by Peter Happé. Penguin Books, 1975.

Normington, Katie. Medieval English Drama: Performance and Spectatorship. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009

Middle English plays on the web

For the N-Town and York plays, Dame Sirith and the Croxton Play, cf. the introductions and annotated ME texts on TEAMS (Middle English text series Online):

Good luck for the semester!

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