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I. ROMAN DRAMA
Characteristics of ROMAN THEATER in general: o festivals: to Ceres, to Bacchus (offering = 1st fruits on platter = called satura jocular scenes = offerings = satura) o Roman actors = histriones (Etruscan dancer) o mime & pantomime: satiric interludes of Greek plays; Etruscan mimic dancing to flute, without verse (to ward off 364 BC plague in Rome) addition (by Roman youths) of raillery, rude doggerel verses to accompany & correspond to the music & dance Livius Andronicus slave recitation & his dancing, with dialogue, told a story (Dramatic Satire, satura) no texts o o Roman drama borrowed from Greek drama o BUT less serious, less philosophical o more farcical, comedic, slapstick (circus-like), diversionary o more spectacle: acrobatics, dancing, singing, slapstick, sea-battles, gladiators, boxing, animal fights, chariot races, other athletics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lucius Annaeus SENECA (c. 4 B.C. 65 A.D) o tragedy o adapted Euripides plays o *WRITTEN TO BE READ (not necessarily performed, acted) Characteristics of ROMAN TRAGEDY (Senecan): o none survive except Senecas o five episodes (acts divided by choral odes) o elaborate speeches o interest in morality o moralization: expressed in sententiae (short pithy generalizations about the human condition) o violence and horror onstage (unlike Greek) o characters dominated by a single passion obsessive (such as revenge) drives them to doom (see AC Bradley) o technical devices: soliloquies, asides, confidants o interest in supernatural and human connections ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Characteristics of ROMAN COMEDY: o no Chorus (abandoned) o no act or scene divisions o songs (Plautus average of three songs, 2/3 of the lines with music)

2 o music (Terence no songs, but music with half of the dialog) o domestic affairs (everyday life) o action placed in the street TITUS PLAUTUS: (c. 254-184 B.C) o comedy o based on Greek plays (21 extant, c. 130) o stichomythia, song, slapstick o Roman allusions; Latin verse

TERENCE: (c.185-159 B.C.) o comedy o freed slave (educated) o 6 extant of 6 plays o complex plots(sub or double plots) o characterization o contrasts in human behavior o vs. Plautus: less boisterous, less episodic, more elegant language, less popular o used Greek characters -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*RUSTIC FARCE: most popular southern Italy short "fabula Atellana": o Atellan play (Atella = a Campanian town) o Roman humor with Maccus the clown, Bucco (Fat cheeks) the simpleton/braggart, Pappus the foolish old man, Dossennus the hunched-backed drunk slave/swindler o actors wore masks o improvisational dialogue o slapstick & buffoonery o short farces with stock characters o *predecessors of Italian commedia dell'arte characters Fescennine verses (fescennia locatio) o bawdy, improvised exchanges o sung by clowns (masked dancers) o at local harvest & vintage festivals & marriage ceremonies o early native Italian jocular dialogue in Latin verse o literary imitations by Catullus (8454 BC), in one of his epithalamiums o Horace (658 BC) claimed that they became so abusive & perverse that they were forbidden by law

3 saturate: o medleys consisting of jest, slapstick, & song (from Etruria) o with masked dancers & musicians o perhaps combined with the Fescennine verses o c.4thC BC phlyax plays: o 4thC BC (southern Italy and Sicily settled by the Greeks) o the Phlyakes = literally Gossip Players o improvised burlesques & travesties of Greek mythology and daily life o performed on a raised wooden stage with an upper gallery, o actors wore grotesque costumes & masks (similar to those of the Greek Old Comedy) o acrobatics and farcical scenes = major part of these MIME plays: o ancient, pre-language form of communication o Greek: actor separated from Chorus to interpret (through dance & gesture) the action the Chorus sung or recited o from fabulla Atellena o costumes = grotesque o comedy = exaggerated o burlesque of gods o some female performers o acrobatics, dance, song, slapstick comedy o popular from 2ndC BC onward o pantomime: pan + mime = imitation of nature short, improvisational, burlesqued scenes between scenes or after written plays heroic, historical, mythological, comical stories grew out of the wreckage of tragedy a kind of burlesque ballet in which a chorus chanted the story to musical accompaniment (lute, pipe, cymbal) while solo actor mimed o mimes: mimis Roman mimes = "histriones" solo actor used mime, gesture, and dance to portray the various characters in a succession of masks bawdy, erotic elements of the story realistic acts of violence & sex serious or comic

4 6 to 60 actor troupes descendants of ancient Greek "Phlyakes": (see above) precursors of Walpurgisnacht characters: (German folklore: April 30, May Day eve, when witches met at The Brocken, Harz Mountains highest peak) spirits that represented life without taboo, inhibition, satiric, typically lascivious & indecent in word, song, gesture St. Walpurga, 710 Wessex, (Abbess of Heidenheim near Eichsttt, a Catholic Saint, was known as the protectoress against witchcraft and sorcery) pagan spring customs (Springs victory over Winter) children play pranks, noisemaking, bonfires (ward off evil spirits) similar to Halloween Walpurgisnacht scene in Goethe's Faust, in which Mephistopheles takes Faust to the Brocken and has him revel with the witches

o topics: Hercules' labors Zeus' love escapades botched Greek tragedies _____________________________________________________________________________ _

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II. FALL of ROMAN DRAMA

(1) barbarian invasions from the north (2) dying art (3) church condemnation *BARBARIANS: attacks on Italy Fall of Rome 476 AD -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*DYING ART: despite elaborate theaters built in Italy, Spain, France, & North African colonies drama written to be READ theater became "little more than a vulgar form of popular entertainment" (31) distant from its religious origins & glorious past in ancient Greece diminishing festivals, spectacles bawdry obscene mimes farces that mainly dealt with drunkenness, greed, adultery, & horseplay acrobatics (lavish spectacles with scantily clad dancers) "water ballets" with scantily clad ("bikini") women & mock sea-battles ("naumachiae") by 5thC AD, all mimes = excommunicated *fall of actors o in GREECE, actors were citizens of good repute o in ROME (now), actors lost esteem Roman performers = slaves debased social status (Rocius = exception, raised to nobility) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*CHURCH CONDEMNATION: o conversion of Emperor Constantine (324-337 A.D) o association with pagan gods (mythology & festivals) o sinful behavior surrounding theaters (thievery, prostitution, fights) Christians = forbidden to participate in or attend theaters o bawdy, obscene, licentious behavior (of participants, mimes) o ridicule by mimes o ***why MIMES = despised satirized, ridiculed religion (under Christian persecutions by) burlesqued sacramental rites (baptism with a drunk, turning into a dunking party)

6 in Centunculus: a clown was baptized & grotesquely crucified

o 200 AD: Tertullian, Latin Church Father, in de Spectaculum, claimed Christians should ignore theater, would be rewarded on Judgment Day with satisfaction watching the torments of tragedians & comedians o St. Augustine (354-430): while opposing much of theater as well, he discriminated between those high & poor in quality Constantine: The theaters are falling almost everywhere, theaters, those sinks of uncleanness and public places of debauchery. And for what reason are they falling? They are falling because of the reformation of the age, because the lewd and sacrilegious practices for which they were built are out of fashion. (400 AD) (Sylvan Barnet 10) o o most Romans denounced the coarse & depraved aspects of Roman theater o Church condemnations, denunciations: (theater as the forge & armory of Satan) 325 AD: Council of Nicea: St. Athanasius' condemnation of another (Arius) for associating with the theater 829 AD: Council of Paris: denunciated theater's players & pomp Tertullian, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, Pope Innocent III -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*THE END of THEATER: 400: many festivals subsided, diminished 404: no gladiators 523: no ventiones (animal fights) 533: last record of theatrical performance 568 AD: Roman drama & "spectacula" (all public entertainment) = obliterated by mid-6thC: dramatist as a profession = extinct plays = read, quoted, BUT not acted _____________________________________________________________________________ _

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III. DARK AGES of DRAMA GAP BETWEEN ROMAN and MEDIEVAL DRAMA
(1) NOMADIC ENTERTAINERS: *YET: MIMES persisted once only incidental, subordinate part ("intermezzi") of Roman theater became sole survivors of Fall of Theater demonstrated by the on-going protests & prohibitions by the Church migratory tradition *ITERANT ACTORS (bridging the gap between Roman theater & Medieval theater) migratory entertainers: o jongleurs, histriones, tellers of tales/storytellers, o puppet-masters, musical instrumentalists written about by Isidore of Seville (7thC), written about by Thomas de Cabham (early 14thC): o TC's moral classification of mimes: 1) licentious & indecent dance & gesture, performed in public houses 2) satirist & parodists, performed at courts & halls of great houses 3) respectable singers of saintly lives & heroic princes (*SCOP tradition, legacy*) a Bishop of Lindisfarne: through his protest of actors, demonstrated that monasteries used to be entertained by traveling players; he suggested that it'd be better to allow paupers in than players *SCOP tradition: storytellers of heroic (martial or religious) deeds WHO: satirists, comedians, fools, clowns, dancers, jugglers, storytellers, instrumentalists o trouveres (11th-14thC, France): of northern France (troubadours in southern France) o goliard (12th, 13thC, England, France, Germany): late Latin poetry by wandering scholars; educated clerics (& students) who did not go into (or were kicked out of) the religious profession; verse on vagabond life (homelessness & unfrocked life), love, debauchery, wine & political and religious satire--on the corruption of the church; 14thC jongleurs or minstrels o jongleur (13thC, France): musician, juggler, & acrobat; story-teller of fabliaux, chansons de geste, lays, & other metrical romances; performed in marketplaces on public holidays, in abbeys, & in noble castles o minstrel (12-14thC, France): replaced jongleur word by 14thC; musician (wind instrument); linked to SCOP and gleemen

WHERE: trade & pilgrim routes, highways, crossroads, courts, castle halls, taverns o mimes in monasteries: mimes, jongleurs, trouveres (11-14thC, northern France; troubadours in southern France) in monasteries, picked up the TROPE (= birth, death, rebirth) and took it (unconsciously) to the masses in Guilds HOW: jokes, gaiety, dances, songs, fabliaux, burlesque songs & stories & gestures; from the indecent dance & gesture to the tales of heroic, saintly deeds

**historical tradition of mimes, this "bridging of the gap," is merely CONJECTURE, the stringing together of pieces of historical evidence by scholars while groping through the "Dark Ages" _____________________________________________________________________________ _ (2) BYZANTIUM: Christianized pagan plays religious plays under Empress Theodora (500-548 AD) o mime-player before she married Emperor Justinian religious instruction to illiterate audience _____________________________________________________________________________ _ (3) PAGAN RITES: Celtic and Teutonic peoples/rites seasonal rites: o winter & spring o death & rebirth of NATURE o winter solstice, autumnal equinox o spring (vernal) equinox (*Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of fertility) o celebrate the harvest, o celebrate the return of nature & start of new crop season *Christianization of pagan cultures (6th century+): Church ASSIMILATION MIME TRADITION: o imitated & sanctified mimicry; o transmuted miming to the service of the Christian Church; o Christmas (12/25) = assimilation & coinciding of pagan sun festival; o Easter coincided with pagan spring rites of fertility, rebirth-resurrection of Nature o mimes in monasteries: mimes, jongleurs, trouveres (11-14thC, northern France; troubadours in southern France) in monasteries, picked up the TROPE (= birth, death, rebirth) and took it (unconsciously) to the masses in Guilds o impersonation: impersonation of miming represents the 2nd purpose, to move beyond mere commemorative action

9 o FOLK RITES: o winter-spring battles = death-rebirth battles = folk contests, games, races (MUMMER PLAYS) o St. John's version of sepulcher scene = pagan fertility rite: set in a garden, Christ mistaken for gardener, primitive taboo of no-touching period of seclusion, costuming in white (light vs. dark) ceremonial drama of light & life arising out of darkness & death o Christianized pagan rites: o precursors to Easter, Christmas celebrations o Easter & Christmas = pagan seasonal festivals o "Easter" = name of Teutonic goddess of spring o o characters = ritual archetypes: ritual opponents; in Mystery Plays, in Mummer Plays....All are symbolic re-enactments (among other things) of winter-spring death and rebirth combats, a part of the endless cycle of ceremonies celebrating death and rebirth combats of the royal hero-god. The darkness of the Crucifixion and the triumphant Easter morning resurrection prefigure the emergence of the spring sun, scattering with light the demons of darkness, and renewing life (27). PAGAN STORIES: o (transcription of Anglo-Saxon oral literature) o included Christian elements within Anglo-Saxon hero-stories o refashioned Christian saints as A-S heroes o retold Christian stories as hero-stories * Death & Resurrection TROPE: o re-enact the death of vegetation (winter) o & the rebirth of nature/vegetation (spring) rites = reduced to FOLK games: o semi-literary & non-literary folk theater o games o morris dancing (May pole dancing) o mummings MUMMINGS Robin Hood plays; St. George plays (below) sword dances: o sword dances = represent animal sacrifice to a vegetation spirit (e.g. Attis, Thammuz) o The Reyesby Sword Play (c. 1779) Thomas Hardy in Return of the Native

10 A Christmas Mumming: The Play of St. George o *predates 1,000 AD; transcribed c. 13thC o Cast: St. George (Prince or King George) Dragon Turkish Knight Doctor Father Christmas (*Elizabethan Prologue, master-of-ceremonies) King of Egypt Sabra, princess, daughter of King of Egypt o Plot: hero story (see Anglo-Saxon literature) death & resurrection (dragon, Turkish Knight, St. George) sword play singing, dancing, mumming Father Christmas: represents the move from Easter to Christmas; acts as master of ceremonies (Prologue), begs for money Dragon: represents the influence of the Crusades; fights with St. George twice; killed, resurrected, killed Turkish Knight: fights with St. George twice; wounded, helped, killed, resurrected Doctor: resurrects Dragon, Knight; given girdy grout as reward (course meal, *symbol of vegetation, rebirth) St. George: fights dragon 2x fights Turk 2x marries Sabra

_____________________________________________________________________________ _ (4) CHRISTIAN TROPES: rebirth (renaissance) of literary drama 10th century unofficial, unauthorized, non-liturgical added to the Church liturgy, Easter Mass

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_____________________________________________________________________________ _ DARK AGES of DRAMA Dark Ages = not so dark seed & spirit of drama kept alive in various guises; while literary drama subsided, dramatic presentation & entertainment remained _____________________________________________________________________________ _

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IV. REBIRTH of LITERARY DRAMA

1) Christian Literature: Hrotvitha: (c. 935-1001) o a.k.a. Hrotsvitha, Hrotswitha, or Roswitha o 10thC Benedictine nun from Saxony, Gandersheim monastery o epic poems, 8 legends of saints lives, 6 plays on religious, saintly themes o best known for her plays: didactic plays to be read, not acted Paphnutius, Dulcitius the saint play (France vogue, not England) o *she represents a link between Classical drama & Medieval drama: o religious (Christian) themes & sentiments (medieval) o farcical elements from the vogue of mimes & jongleurs (medieval) o wit, humor, theatricality (classical) o Terence as model: (classical) characterization, humor, dramatic conflict her attempt to reverse the negative characterization of women in his comedies 2) Christian Tropes: unofficial literary addition to church liturgy semi-dramatic form wordless sequences in Easter Mass EASTER: o earliest tropes o Easter = holiest time of the year (more than Christmas in our time) (1) ANTIPHONAL SONG: melodies sung to vowel sounds (medieval chant) wordless meaningless sounds, drawn out final vowels neumes: mnemonic device for musical notation (to remember melody learned by ear) perhaps developed in Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine church music (2) TROPES: 1 composed in France adding words to the wordless sequences of antiphonal songs short sung dialogue (in LATIN) lyrical portion of the Easter Mass (like Greek dithyramb) priests = actors religious education to illiterate masses (BUT masses cant understand LATIN?!)
st

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**RELIGION & DRAMA ** Greek drama developed from the worship of Dionysus Post-Roman drama extinguished in part by Early Church Medieval drama reborn in Christian liturgy A. QUEM QUAERITIS trope o 10th century o St. Gall (Benedictine abbey in Switzerland) o plot: Angel + 3 Marys at Christs grave, for the ceremonial preparation of the body enacting the visitation to the sepulcher by the 3 Marys on Easter morning o *not impersonation* merely sung dialogue in question-answer format sung during Easter Mass sung by the 2 halves of the choir o Interrogatio (questioner who introduces the angels) o Responsio (the 3 Marys) o Angeli (the angels) o question (Whom do you seek?), response, directive o one priest represented the Angel, another (or 3 others) the Marys B. INTROIT TROPE o 10th century o *expansion on QQ trope o part of the Introit of the Easter Mass o chanted dialogue between Angel(s) and Marys o *at the beginning of the Easter service (Introit = entrance, beginning) C. MATINS Trope o *detached from Mass o separate scene performed at Matins Matins = prayers that precede daybreak o *now tropes = free to develop dramatically (like a small opera) o *ETHELWOLD (c. 965-75) Ethelwold (10thC Bishop of Winchester) (c. 954-963) stage directions instructions on how to perform this liturgical play St. Ethelwold's Regularis Concordia, o longer version of QQ with "Stage directions" o hints at a Good Friday trope to which the Quem Quaeritis is a sequel of sorts;

14 o *didactic purpose of tropes was to strengthen the faith "in the unlettered vulgar and in neophytes" (4). o performed before matins (early morning prayers) o after trope priest & choirboys sung joyful Easter hymn o **IMPERSONATION** now the performers are trying to impersonate the Angels and Marys look like, act like (action) costume & gesture (white robe for angel) perhaps MIME influence (3) DEVELOPMENT: added characters (Christ, Peter, John, soldiers) added lines still in LATIN added pantomimes (13thC, The Orleans Sepulcher) from the choir to/through the nave: *whole church utilized multiple scenes, temporary structures built altar (with crucifix) = central point congregations left = heaven (priests right hand) congregations right = hell pulpit: prophets spoke nave: (multiple settingsmansions, houses, booths): Herods palace, Golgotha, Bethlehem, Temple, Gethsemane, Mount of Olives, Pilates palace, Tomb, Caiaphas house space in between = platea, all-purpose space move to Christmas (4) CHRISTMAS: OFFICIUM PASTORUM o (Office of the Shepherds) o sepulcher manger o 3 Marys (with crucified Christ) 3 Shepherds (born Christ) o angles midwives o *set precedent for other theatrical productions: th 12 Day celebrations: OFFICIUM STELLAE o Office of the Star o 3 Magi, kings o led by a star ORDO RACHELIS o Slaughter of the Innocents

o o o o o

15 o ordered by Herod, King of Judea o lament of Rachel, represents grieving mothers of slain children o *OT character telling a NT story ORDO PROPHETARUM o prophets of Israel o testified to the coming Christ o Christ cycle: OT prophets foretelling Jesus, Nativity, Trial of Jesus, Crucifixion, Resurrection & Second Coming o *OT characters telling a NT story (5) Other episodes from Biblical HISTORY: Creation, Crucifixion, Doomsday still in Medieval LATIN (6) Elaboration of Biblical SOURCE: local color o Mary Magdalene before her conversion: o entertained a lover, sung songs, bought cosmetics *English VERNACULAR: o English vernacular dialogue mixed with Latin (7) Early-13thC DEVELOPMENTS: moved outside of the church o *different places (towns, countries) at different times o overcrowding in the church o bawdry & license that crept into scenes more vernacular (in English) o Adam = 12thC Anglo-Norman play, speeches in English vernacular set outside, against the church doors (Gods entrance) more elaboration, more characters/roles, more scenery, more expense: o realistic, complicated plots, props, machinery from 3 Marys at Easter more Biblical stories: o *as the Greek dithyramb = expanded to tell stories of gods, heroes o so too was the Easter story expanded o Christ cycle: OT prophets foretelling Jesus, Nativity, Trial of Jesus, Crucifixion, Resurrection & Second Coming o Biblical stories: Noahs Ark, Jonah & the Whale, Daniel in the Lions Den, Samson & Delilah o stories of saints and martyrs (8) Drama per se: by 1300-1400s:

16 outside the church (from church yard to streets) actors = laymen, semi-professional actors English dialogue (replaced Latin) GUILD CYCLES: o produced by town guilds: COMMUNAL event o each guild was assigned a role (actors, stage, director, scenery, costumes) o in York Cycle: each guild was responsible for a cycle-episode

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V. MYSTERY, MIRACLE, and MORALITY plays

MYSTERY 18th CENTURY: o distinction between "mystery" (Biblical history) & "miracle" (lives & legends of saints) during MIDDLE AGES: o "miracle" = ANY medieval play o derived from "miraculum": not limited to supernatural invention in human lives; meant anything of a religious character in FRANCE: o "mystery" = Biblical play o French "mystere" = o not Greek "mysterion" (secret religious ceremonies) o not English "mystery" (trade or craft guild) o but Latin "ministerium" (referring to Church service) the spiritual mystery of Christs redemption of humanity Latin mysterium (handicraft) related to guilds (guilds = mysteries) mysteres of France, sacre rappresentazioni of Italy, autos sacramentales in Spain, Geistspiele of German-speaking lands

(1) mystery play = Biblical story (usually Gospels) (2) miracle play = hagiography (3) morality play = conflict of personified abstractions, not Biblical or hagiographical, but creative stories that "sermonize" on moral, ethical behavior with regard to salvation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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1) MYSTERY CYCLES:
TRAITS: o "Mystery Cycles," "Biblical Pageants," "Cyclical Pageants," "Corpus Christi Plays," "Corpus Christi Pageants" o "pageant" = usually denotes a PART of a cycle, one play within a complete cycle collection o performances: parade-like from dawn to dusk in a single day OR over 2 or 3 successive days (local custom) o *from European Continent tradition: especially New Testament material Passion Plays survive today in Oberammergau (southern Bavaria town) o o events from the Bible o not dogmatic (as morality plays) o celebrated the good news of salvation o cycles of plays that were presented on the feast of Corpus Christi in large towns like York & Coventry (church & guilds) o o GOD = speaking character (Deus) o pageants = poetic drama 8-line stanzas (10, 11, 12-line stanzas) alliteration (see Anglo-Saxon literature) rhyme scheme (abab, cddc) (abab, cccc) o no scene divisions o anachronisms: references to Christ Cain swears to Christ hob = prankster from Yorkshire folklore Wat Wink (Noah) and other comic, derogatory nicknames bailiffs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TIME FRAME: o height: late 14thC, early 15thC o decline: end of 15thC cost-prohibitive for guilds move from amateur to professional drama (touring of semi- or professional troupes) Protestant pressure (representations of Christ & Virgin Mother = sacrilegious) *Miracle Plays = still performed into 16thC (at Coventry, 14 miles from Stratford) *Morality Plays = most important plays of late 15thC, early 16thC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHANGES:

19 o o o o secular authorities trade guilds & amateur actors (Bottom in MSND) religious content = not necessary COMEDY:** addition of farcical characters or episodes (mix of secular folk entertainment with religious) still respectful & reverent with divine characters but burlesqued villains (Satan, Pilate, Herod, Cain), non-biblical characters (servants, soldiers, shepherdsmedieval, clowned & joked) merchants in the 3 Marys; shepherds in the Christmas plays; Mak the Sheepstealer; Noahs shrewish wife; Babels workmen; *SATAN* and his devils masked, acrobatic dancing & farcical miminginterludes

o o vernacular o extravagance: realism (bloody executions); complicated plots; props; working machinery (cranes, trap doors, HELL MOUTH); elaborate costumes (leather, jewelry, gilded halos & masks); instrumental or vocal music DIRECTOR o semi-professional actors (as parts became more complex) o national theater companies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CYCLES: o cycle plays, Corpus Christi plays, pageant plays o *no ORIGINAL of a cycle exists o *extant = transcripts, with revisions & inter-borrowings o o annual spring performance (starting at daybreak) (end of May, early June) o performed on WHITSUNDAY: (aka Pentecost) 50th day after Easter; 7th Sunday after Easter; reception of Holy Spirit o or performed CORPUS CHRISTI DAY: Thursday after Trinity Sunday (@ 7 weeks after Easter); celebrates doctrine of transubstantiation 1264, Pope Urban IV, 1311, Pope Clement V (established holy day) English weather: Easter-time weather was unpredictable moved to late May, early June o

20 o story of cycles = PROLEPTIC HISTORY of HUMANITY** from before & after mankind from Creation to Last Judgment God's plan for humanity from the Gospels, with some OT characters/stories fall of Lucifer, Creation, fall of Adam, Noah, Cain & Abel, Abraham & Isaac, Nativity scenes, Annunciation with Joseph's troubled response, episodes from Christ's life, Christ's Passion & Resurrection (with "Quem Quaeritis" in between), Judgment Day ("Judicium") o o dramatized Biblical history: from Creation to Last Judgment *Medieval Cycles broke Classical UNITIES: (time, place, action) o Greek & Roman drama: a short period, day or less o Medieval & Elizabethan drama: whole history: Creation to Judgment, kings to beggars, sorrow & joy (dramatization of the Christian view of life) o range in time & space & character some of the cycles-subjects = 1) Lucifers fall 2) Creation & Adams fall 3) Cain & Abel 4) Noah & the Flood 5) Abraham & Isaac 6) Nativity 7) Lazarus 8) Passion & Resurrection 9) Judgment-Doomsday Day 1) Harrowing of Hell 2) Loaves & Fishes 3) Slaughter of the Innocents 4) Moses 5) Prophets 6) John the Baptist, Jesus Baptism 7) Jesus Temptation in the Wilderness 8) Assumption & Coronation of the Virgin

guild=pageant: o correlation between a guild & its play-part o best for props & scenery & costuming o see YORK CYCLE (below) o shipwrights = Noah & Flood o bakers = Last Supper o vintners = Miracle at Cana o 4 extant cycles: 1) York (48) 3) Chester (25) 2) Wakefield (30-32) 4) N-Town (42)

o goldsmiths= Magi o carpenters = Resurrection o butchers = Crucifixion

1) WAKEFIELD CYCLE: younger than the York Cycle aka, "Towneley Cycle" because it was in the possession of this Lancashire family

21 presented by Wakefield craft & trade guilds 30 plays ("pageants") o not all = complete o 5/6 attributed to an unidentified (unidentifiable) single author "the Wakefield Master" based on stanza forms, local allusions, individuality of style & idiom Second Shepherds Play performed in procession from dawn to dusk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2) YORK CYCLE: dated from 1340-50 (older than Wakefield Cycle) performed processionally (parade) from dawn (4:30-5 AM) to dusk 4x Hamlet in length, @ 15 hours 1. Creation, Fall of Lucifer (Tanners), 3. Creation and A&E (cardmakers), Fall of Man (coopers), Cain & Abel (glovers), Noah & wife (fishers & mariners), 2. Creation (days 1-5, Plasterers), 4. A&E in Eden (Fullers), Expulsion (armorers), Building of Ark (shipwrights), Abraham & Isaac (parchmenters, bookbinders), Annunciation & Visitation (spicers), Journey to Bethlehem & Jesus' birth (tilethatchers), Going of the 3 kings to Herod (masons), flight to Egypt (marshals/horsegroomers), Christ with the Doctors (spurriers & lorimers/spur & bit-makers), Temptation (smiths), Woman taken in adultery & Lazarus (capmakers), Conspiracy (cutlers), Agony & Betrayal (cordwainers), Dream of Pilate's wife & Jesus before Pilate (tapiters/tapestry & carpet-makers and couchers), 2nd Accusation before Pilate & Remorse of Judas & Purchase of Field of Blood (cooks & leaders), Christ led to Calvary (shearmen),

Israelites from Egypt & 10 plagues & Red Sea (hosiers), Joseph's troubles (pewterers, founders), shepherds (chandlers/candlemakers), Coming of the Kings & Adoration (goldsmiths), Slaughter of the Innocents (girdlers & nailers), Baptism of Jesus (barbers), Transfiguration (curriers/leatherdressers), Christ's entrance to Jerusalem (skinners), Last Supper (bakers), Peter's Denial & Jesus before Caiaphas (bowyers & fletchers), Trial before Herod (litsters/dyers), 2nd trial before Pilate (tilemakers),

22 Crucifixion (pinners & painters), Mortification of Christ & Burial (butchers), Resurrection (carpenters), Travelers to Emmaus (sledmen),

Harrowing of Hell (saddlers), Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene (winedrawers), Purification of Mary & Simeon and Anna Incredulity of Thomas (scriveners), (hatmakers & masons & laborers), Ascension (tailors), Descent of the Holy Spirit (potters), Death of Mary (drapers/dealers of dry Appearance of Mary to Thomas goods), (weavers), Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin Judgment Day (mercers/textile-dealers) (ostlers/stablemen), -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3) N-TOWN CYCLE: manuscript dated from late 15thC 42 plays ("pageants") aka, Hegge Cycle: Robert Hegge may have owned them once called the "Coventry Cycle" (but not from Coventry) likely from eastern counties "N-Towne" from one of the plays' prologue (not a name, but a blank line to be filled in by the traveling players) *performed on stationary platforms (late 15thC) didactic, least dramatic of the cycles (late 15thC) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4) CHESTER CYCLE: *oldest plays (although no extant manuscript older than 1591, perhaps originated in mid 14thC) 25 plays ("pageants") *appear to be the 1st performed on Feast of Corpus Christi, 7/8 weeks after Easter -- after 1264 Pope Urban (instituted the feast in honor of the Holy Sacrament), 1311 Pope Clement V (solidified feast) reserved humor, high religious tone, les obtrusive didacticism -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*PRODUCTION: in meadows, public greens, highways, streets, markets in market towns & cathedral towns produced by religious fraternities, municipal corporations, trade & craft guilds cooperation = economics & religion (trade guilds not = trade unions: managers of TG = also workmen) move from the clergy to the laity o from Latin to English vernacular*

23 o from strictly religious to introduction of more secular/worldly elements (comedy & farce parts--but kept primary reverence) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*STAGING: 1) AMBULATORY-perambulating: processional, parade-like o repeat scene-pageant at each stopping point along the parade route o audience: heterogeneous crowd (princes, nobles, churchmen, commoners,serfs) preferred by guild cycles more common method of production audience remained stationary (play brought to them) a production "seriatim" the destiny of mankind performed linearly performed on pageant wagons, "floats" wagons = (pageants) o horse-drawn floats (like those used in triumphal entries or royal processions) o high scaffold with 2 tiers; o curtained lower room for dressing ("tiring room"), o higher room for performing (greater visibility) around wagons = stage-ground, too (Herod, devils, demons) Archdeacon Rogers describes procession & wagons in his account of Chester Cycle (late 16thC) 2) STATIONARY-static: (2) theater-in-the-round: o raised amphitheater; an arena w/ multiple stages o stage = platea: perimeter of a central plain; tenti raised scaffolds on perimeter; seats = inward side of a mound o created in a meadow with a ditch, wall, fence enclosure (3) houses (mansions) in semi-circle, straight line, OR amphitheater setting (theater-in-theround) on a long elevated platform (Frances Passion plays) o action moved from house to house as the play progressed o France: mansions (scenes) representing different locales from Heaven to Hell *heaven is STILL on the actors right, hell on the left (as in church) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*SCENERY & COSTUMES: some attempt towards realism, "production" smoke, fireworks, banging of pots & pans & kettles devil costumes = full suit, leather, tails, hooves, horns, masks, pitch fork God in white leather, white hair & beard A&E curtained or in white leather (nudity)

24 Eden strewn with flowers & fruits linen as clouds *COLOR SYMBOLISM: o from Church liturgy o in Castle of Perseverance (& others) o white = mercy o red = righteousness o green = truth o black = evil

_____________________________________________________________________________ _

25

2) MIRACLE plays:
events or legends from sources outside the Bible (i.e., Acta Sanctorum) 1643 acts of saints hagiography, from saints lives ________________________________________________________________________________ _

3) MORALITY plays:
later development (15th, 16thC) didactic, somber, dull (dramatized sermons) allegorical exploration of human salvation action = struggle between abstractions, o virtues & vices of human condition: o Mankind, Strength, Hope, Death, Good Deeds, VICE (comedy) o coming of death, religious & political controversies audience = halls, courts; appeals to their intellect (not emotions) problem = human salvation Everyman, The Castle of Perseverance, Mankind, Magnificence (John Skelton), The nature of the Four Elements (John Rastell, early 16thC), Lusty Juventus (c. 1550) Everyman late-15thC masterpiece (ever produced in its own time?) complete although brief play only a part of a larger Morality cycle: Part 2, the coming of Death (The Summoning of Everyman) Here beginneth a treatise how the High Father of heaven sendeth Death to summon all creatures to come and give account of their lives in this world and is in the manner of a Moral Play. verse: 4-stress couplets, but the stress & rhyme are often irregular unity: unified in situation, thought, tone characterization: allegorical figures, abstractions BUT color & individuality, typify human experience (rather than define it) plot: journey; Everyman is lonely & afraid on his journey; his company includes 5 Wits, Strength, Discretion, Beauty, Knowledge, Good Deeds (follows him all the way to the grave) point: good works will save man from damnation sources: St. John Damascenes Barlaam and Josaphat (8thC); a Buddist source for JDs work, with a Messenger of Death summoning the man on a journey with 4 wives (Body, Wealth, Relations/Friends, and Intentions/Deedsonly one who goes with him) Castle of Perseverance (produced c. 1425) earliest; performed on a stationary stage with separate scaffolds 3,600 lines of verse see 3 themes below

o o o

o o o o o o o o o

26 o Mankind is seduced, partakes of the Flesh, repents & is taken to the Castle, is enticed by Covetousness to leave, is killed by Death; goes on trial before God; o un-tragic ending of Gods mercy THEMES of Morality Plays: (3 dominant) o (1) psychomachia: battle for Mans soul between Virtue & Vice (see Castle of Perseverance, Romance of the Rose, Everyman, and Piers Plowman) allegorical presentation of the 7 Deadly Sins, each impersonated VICE: comical character whose pranks, mischief enlivened the typically didactically dry Morality Plays o (2) summoning: the coming of Death, the death of Man & the Judgment to come o (3) debate: a debate between Truth & Justice against Mercy & Peace for Mans soul Morality plays vs. Miracle plays: Miracles: had godly men, improbable acts, miracles Moralities: had average, realistic men; flawed, imperfect, tempted, fallen Moralities Renaissance TRAGIC HERO: struggles with passions, ignorance, death Morality plays involved much more invention, creativity of plot, of characterization represent/reflect the tendencies/inclinations, cultural interests of the Middle Ages (mid-14th century mid-16th century): *CONSCIENCE *LEARNING *MORALIZING, didacticism horseplay (folk-farce) humanistic (Renaissance) politico-religious (Reformation: Catholicism vs. Protestantism)

o o o o o o o o o o

developed from Medieval artistic traditions: O HOMILY O ALLEGORY in medieval painting, in medieval sculpture, in medieval poetry Roman de la Rose The Divine Comedy The Faerie Queen o o o o o Influence on ELIZABETHAN Literature: horseplay moralizing religious beliefs VICE: character re-born as Clowns, Pranksters, and Villains parade of the 7 Deadly Sins: Marlowes Dr. Faustus

27 _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ __

28

INTERLUDE
witty debate arose in the early decades of the 16th century related to the medieval debate purpose: to amuse & to educate comic & discursive little plot, lots of discussion * not public theater * but private entertainment of great halls o demonstrates a contraction in dramatic art *TRANSITIONAL PERIOD (between Medieval and Modern Drama) expansiveness & religiosity of Medieval drama = contracted into witty comic & pseudo-classical pieces from public theater to private theater not the grand Cycle plays not in public squares, in pageant processions not for the average individual but in banquet halls of the rich o lord & guests on dais at end opposite the stage; other guests at the sides; the production before a wooden screen o reduced grand action to narratives by a Nuntius but in schools (schoolmasters & law students) but for the educated, rich little scenery (no epic action) mental action (opposed to physical action) wit over plot, action limited plot (the debate at hand) *simultaneous with continuation of public theater *though medieval theater elements (effervescence, Judeo-Christian) survive until c.1660 England, France, Spainwith rise of courtly neo-classical drama

1-act farces moral = secondary humorous situation or argument = primary (situation comedyw/o slapstick) chaplain Henry Medwalls Fulgens and Lucrece (c.1497) John Heywood (c.1497-1578) o master of the royal choir school o court musician until 1528 o loyal Catholic

29 participated in the 1544 plot against the Protestant Archbishop Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury left England for Jesuits in France, died there o *his daughter Elizabeth became the mother of JOHN DONNE o The Play of the Weather, John John, Tib, and Sir John, The Four PP o The Four PP: pardoner, pilgrim/palmer, pedlar, pothecary witty 4-way discussion references to daily life Transition to TUDOR DRAMA: o after 1550, dramatic taste favored a different style of comedy: o *more action, more characterization o Tudor comedy _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ __

30

TUDOR COMEDY
CLASSICAL INFLUENCE: o spread of the Renaissance o performances of the comedies by Plautus and Terence o imitations of the comedies by Plautus and Terence (in Latin & vernacular) o ITALY: early decades of 16th century o ENGLAND: by 1640s, through English scholars & teachers o School Plays = merely academic exercises displays of wit & education Thersites: (1537) antics of a cowardly soldier based on a French humanist Jean Textier play itself an imitation of Plautus Miles Glorious (The Braggart Soldier) o RALPH ROISTER DOISTER (c.1550-53): by schoolmaster Nicholas Udall classic characters classic 5-act structure classic unities of action in a single setting despite its classical influence 1st fully developed adaptation of Roman comedy that is fundamentally English RRD: classic Braggart Soldier roister = to swagger, to be boisterous, uproarious; to revel out of control Merrygreek: hanger-on, classic Parasite whose exploits drive the plot ENGLISH-ness: departures from classical sources domestication of classical comedy performed at a school, in England English morality, local color, English characterization, realism: Greek & Roman courtesan = replaced by virtuous English widow (Dame Constance) characters of her household = representatives of the English middle class English serving women English merchant-suitor of DC English morality in DCs innocence of slander Medieval English VICE character in Merrygreek English folk influence in farce, language

31 (+) ingenious & extravagant theatrical details; lively action (contrast to Moralities and Interludes); folk language; combination of entertainment & didacticism, comedy & morality themes: vanity suffering reproof, folly receiving correction

o GAMMAR GURTONS NEEDLE (c.1552-63): by Deacon William Stevenson at Cambridge classical only in its 5-act structure, unity of action English folk influence: lively, farcical, village setting, rustic manners, language, drinking song, homespun & wholesome plot English character types Diccon = VICE; prankster, licensed beggar, released mental patient (Bedlam) from Bethlehem Hospital (see Edgar in King Lear) sets Gammer Gurton against her neighbor Dame Chat over supposed theft of a needle characters = country parish curate, village bailiff, 2 scolding women, bumpkin-servant _____________________________________________________________________________ _

32

TUDOR TRAGEDY
reflects the interests of the law students at Londons Inns of Court history, politics, great events tragedy = history: power struggles o themes = moral & political classical influence SENECA o 5-act format o Chorus (moralizes) o revenge theme o ghosts o off-stage action (reported by a Nuntius) o **narration instead of presentation of action (told, not shown) o reflects Renaissance influence of education (read in Latin) o read, translated, performed (1559-66); Ten Tragedies (published 1581) o Senecan plays by law students: Gismonde of Salerne (c.1566); Tancred and Gismunda (1591, reworked GS); The Misfortunes of Arthur (1588) marks the height & end of vogue MIRROR for MAGISTRATES o 1559, 1563, 1574, 1578, 1587, 1610 (a 1555 non-extant edition published by John Weyland) o 1559 edition: edited by William Baldwin & George Ferrers (15 of 19 lives) published by Thomas Marsh after persecutions/censorship by Mary came the relaxed reign of QE1 o narrative poems o tragedies of famous people o precursor, resource for dramatic tragedy o de casibus literary tradition (from Boccaccios De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (Concerning the Falls of Illustrious Men), fall of great men from heights of happiness/fortune o exemplar literary tradition (speculum): Boccaccio, John Lydgates Fall of Princes (15thc), Chaucers Monks tale o mirror reflects the deeds of past men to educate present men GORBODUC: (c.1561-62) o Thomas Norton: (1532-84) student with Sackville at the Inner Temple law school later lawyer both = members of Queen Elizabeths 1st Parliament o Thomas Sackville (1536-1608)

33 student, barrister of the Inner Temple later Earl of Dorset, Lord High Treasurer of England poet: published Induction, The Complaint of Buckingham in 1563 Mirror for Magistrates poetic nature of Gorboduc 1st use in drama of Blank Verse (replaced rhymed verse) BLANK VERSE unrhymed iambic pentameter (5-stress lines) mimics rhythms of everyday human speech (sounds natural) introduced into English by Earl of Surrey, Henry Howard his translation (c.1540) of Virgils Aeneid Surrey influenced by Molzas 1530 Italian translations, using versi sciolti (freed verse) blank verse replaced rhymed verse & replaced doggerel of native drama (rough, badly made verse, monotonous in rhythm & clumsy in rhyme, on trivial subject) became the standard versification for tragedy within 25 years of Gorboduc Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, Webster

o Inns at Court product o moral & political lessons, themes o Senecan: 5-act format Chorus revenge theme off-stage action a Nuntius messenger who reports off-stage action o English historical legend: abdicated in favor of his sons kingdom fell apart (King Lear) o English disregard for classical unities of time & place o Dumb Show before 5th Act o *dangers of CIVIL WAR: 2 statesmen writing a MORALITY PLAY warning against divided rule o (+) not mere academic exercise; maintained seriousness, link to Morality Plays (allegorical nature, characters), axiomatic dialogue, parallel actions o *represents serious drama separate from religion

34

DEVELOPMENT of COMEDY
ENGLAND: o traveling entertainers o folk traditions o Mystery Cycles: introduction of comedy into religious plays when opened to the public: outside the church, involving the guilds, with local color & characters o English Interludes (medieval debat) o Classical influence of Plautus & Terence o Renaissance comedy with more action & more characterization FRANCE: o finessed humor incorporated into the early medieval religious drama o Enfants sans souci, group of amateur writers who promoted intellectual humor o secular farce o soties: satire & wit over plot; replaced secular farce GERMANY: o farce (Fastnachspiel) folksy, unsophisticated compared to English & French cosmopolitan works) The Narr, fool = central character; a congenital dolt or sly character who plays the fool to his advantage German guilds specialized in farce o later vogues: Latin translations of Greek plays (Euripides); anti-Catholic satire Austrian farce (Neidhartspiel) ITALY: o little comedy: slow to move beyond liturgy stage o sacre rappresentazioni: 15thC vogue; episodic; lives of OT and NT saints; with musical accompaniment SPAIN: o popular entertainment fused with religious theater o religious & farcical works mixed o 1264: Corpus Christi festival: devotional & allegorical pieces; performed at 1st in the chapel, then in a processional; later known as autos sacramentales

35 o __________________________________________________________________________ _

LINK between 10thC Liturgical "drama" & 14th, 15th, 16thC Cycles: Theories on how drama survived?
1) didactic impulse, on the part of the clergy ("teacher gene") 2) "spontaneous outburst" theory: dramatic instinct-impulse ("drama gene"); post hoc ergo propter hoc (religion produces drama overlooks centuries between), false analogy (Greek religion drama = medieval religion drama overlooks dissemblance between frenzied, orgiastic Dionysian rite & sober, contemplative monastic calm) 3) drama as ritual: history + anthropology; PAGAN FERTILITY RITES: o heathen, pre-Christian rites of fertility & rebirth o survived in FOLK seasonal ceremonies, spring-rites, games, folk plays, folk dances, folk contests o drama = imbedded in the ritual drama of primitive fecundity rites both pagan rites & church liturgy & drama purpose to (1) imitate an act, (2) animate the audience with feelings NO THEATRICAL VACUUM o no "dramatic dark ages": o Byzantium actors & performers, Theodora, Emperor Justinians wife, herself was a mime/actor no break between the East and the West; kept drama alive o Hrotvitha: (935-1001) 10thC Benedictine nun from Saxony, Gandersheim monastery represents a link between Classical drama & Medieval drama: religious (Christian) themes & sentiments (medieval) farcical elements from the vogue of mimes & jongleurs (medieval) wit, humor, theatricality (classical) Terence as model: characterization, humor, dramatic conflict (classical) ** Church ASSIMILATION: o Catholic church assimilated mime tradition: o imitated & sanctified mimicry; o transmuted miming to the service of the Christian Church; o Christmas (12/25) = assimilation & coinciding of pagan sun festival; o Easter coincided with pagan spring rites of fertility, rebirth-resurrection of Nature

36 mimes in monasteries: mimes, jongleurs, trouveres (11-14thC, northern France; troubadours in southern France) in monasteries, picked up the TROPE (= birth, death, rebirth) and took it (unconsciously) to the masses in Guilds impersonation: impersonation of miming represents the 2nd purpose, to move beyond mere commemorative action Egyptian death-rebirth rites: ancient vegetation rites --> king-dramas --> Syrian & Babylonian year-gods rites * FOLK RITES: o winter-spring battles = death-rebirth battles = folk contests, games, races (MUMMER PLAYS) o St. John's version of sepulcher scene = pagan fertility rite: set in a garden, Christ mistaken for gardener, primitive taboo of no-touching period of seclusion, costuming in white (light vs. dark) ceremonial drama of light & life arising out of darkness & death o "Easter" = name of Teutonic goddess of spring o characters = ritual archetypes: ritual opponents; in Mystery Plays, in Mummer Plays...."All are symbolic re-enactments (among other things) of winter-spring death and rebirth combats, a part of the endless cycle of ceremonies celebrating death and rebirth combats of the royal hero-god. The darkness of the Crucifixion and the triumphant Easter morning resurrection prefigure the emergence of the spring sun, scattering with light the demons of darkness, and renewing life" (27). ** TROPE = CYCLE plays: BIRTH-DEATH-REBIRTH/Resurrection ** RITUAL DRAMA **: o diversion, entertainment + worship, passive & active o no anachronisms: because of connection through centuries to ancient rites; all is connected; "TIMELESS PRESENT" each play/pageant = seen through this TROPE of birth-death-renewal use of trope = done UNCONSCIOUSLY: "unconscious representation of the ancient heathen worship" (28)

37

DARK AGES of DRAMA (568-970) (my summary) DRAMA HISTORY: 1) after the fall of Rome, drama survived in performances in Byzantium AND 2) in traveling performers such as MIMES (jongleurs, storytellers, dancers, musicians) whose mimicry & gesture were assimilated & sanctified by the 10thC church and used to spread the Word of God, the "good news"; 3) drama also survived through Celtic, Egyptian PAGAN FERTILITY-FECUNDITY RITES, the central trope of which (birth-death-rebirth) had a legacy through many forms of production including folk rites, games, contests .... finally in Church liturgy *MEDIEVAL DRAMA, traits: common humanity, amusing directness, realism, wonder, homely detail, religious transcendence--Gassner *MEDIEVAL DRAMA, trajectory: traveling entertainers, folk mumming & dancing, Church liturgy, guild pageants, miracle plays, allegorical moral plays, farces, comic debates (interludes), classical influence on scholars (law students) and schoolmasters in translations & imitations of comedies & tragedies cultural heritage: the medieval church & later Easter festival audience member recognized (unconsciously) the trope within the Cycle story as the trope from pagan & folk rites, both part of his/her British/Celtic heritage (Anglo-Saxon?) Christian assimilation: with Anglo-Saxon hero stories, with pagan rites near Christmas & Easter, with miming perhaps the "teacher gene" & the "drama gene" mingled with the "hope springs eternal gene" Cycles = PROLEPTIC (?): past, present, future at once; timeless present; past & future were present in the Mystery Cycles; anachronisms mixed in present local color of sayings, humor, allusions; " 'The Cycle then was seen by the medieval towns-folk as an annual renewal of the world, an unfolding ritual of ever present life from Creation to Doomsday' " (28).

RENAISSANCE DRAMA (mid-to-late 16thC) Medieval drama tradition + Classical forms = Renaissance drama o Senecan tragedy: vindictive ghosts, revenge motif, stichomythia (verbal sparring, 1-liners), vacillating heroes between emotional outburst & stoical meditations

38 o Plautus (254-184? BC) & Terence (190-159? BC) comedy: character types, elaborate plots; young lovers, aided by disguised clever servant, outwit parents & marry (not in Medieval comedy)