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Medieval Drama and Theatre

Medieval Drama and Theatre. Rite and Theatre. Rite and Theatre. The Dramatic Core of Christian Liturgy. Matins of Easter Sunday The „Quem queritis” trope Trope Melisma Sequence. The „Quem queritis” trope. „Quem queritis?” = „Whom are you looking for?” (Mk 16)

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Medieval Drama and Theatre

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  1. Medieval Drama and Theatre

  2. Rite and Theatre

  3. Rite and Theatre

  4. The Dramatic Core of Christian Liturgy • Matins of Easter Sunday • The „Quem queritis” trope • Trope • Melisma • Sequence

  5. The „Quem queritis” trope „Quem queritis?” = „Whom are you looking for?” (Mk 16) Angel: “Quem queritis in sepulchro, O Christicolae?” Marys: “Ihesum Nazarenum.” Angel: “Non est hic. Surrexit sicut praedixerat. Ite, nuntiate quia surrexit a mortuis.” Everyone: “Alleluia. Resurrexit Dominus.” Angel: “Venite et videte locum.”

  6. Whom are you seeking…? Angel: “Whom are you seeking in the sepulchre, O Christians?” Marys: “Jesus of Nazareth.” Angel: “He is not here. He rose as he predicted. Go, announce that He has arisen from the dead.” Everyone: “Alleluia. The Lord has risen.” Angel: “Come and see the place.”

  7. The Regularis Concordia • 10th-century Benedictine reform • Winchester Trope

  8. From Rite to Theatre • Early outdoor liturgical plays • Drive in the Church to make religion and faith visible: • 1215: Lateran IV • Mendicant orders • 1265: Institution of the Feast of Corpus Christi

  9. Liturgical Plays • Liturgy-bound (fix part of the liturgy) • Latin • Bound to dialogical tropes that appear in the text of the liturgy • Sung • Gestures dominate over words • Monastic origin • Mostly indoor plays • Remains in practice all throughout the Middle Ages

  10. Giotto di Bondone: Crib at Greccio

  11. Stage Performances • Not bound to liturgy • Mainly vernacular • Theme: Salvation history • Performed • Rhetorical and theatrical effects • Initially ecclesiastical control • Outdoor performances • From the 13th to the 16th century

  12. Survey of stage plays • What kind of plays? (Genre) • Where and how? (Staging and performance) • Who played? (Actors) • Who watched? (Audience) • Who composed? (Playwrights) • Who interprets? (Reception and the modern reader)

  13. Genres 1 • Ludus / play • Interludium • Rapraesentatio / representation • Processio / procession • Royal entry – tableaux vivants • Pageant

  14. Genres 2 • Mystery plays • Cycles (York, Wakefield / Towneley, Chester, N-Town /East Anglia/) • Fragments or solitary plays - Miracle plays - Morality plays (Psychomachia)

  15. Staging Stationary: • Round theatre • Single scaffold

  16. The Martyrdom of St Apollonia

  17. Staging 2: The Pageants

  18. Pageant Wagons

  19. Staging 3: Indoor Performances - Aristocratic households • The Moral Play of Wisdom (?) • Colleges: Student performances • Priories and monasteries • Commissions by the royal court

  20. Actors and Players • No professional players • Clergy and guilds • Minstrels • Dancers and musicians

  21. Audience: Entertainment and Devotion

  22. Playwrights • Almost all anonymous • The York Realist • The Wakefield Master • John Lydgate

  23. Mysteries’ End

  24. Peak and Ban of the Plays • Paradox: Peak of mysteries coincides with the spread of private devotion • Mysteries continue into the 16th c. • From dogma to civic pride • Reformation: Ban on the plays

  25. Medieval Theatre Websites • http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/drama • http://www.yorkmysteryplays.org/index_highres.htm

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