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Abstract
This retrospective represents a new approach to using historical performance as a tool for understanding medieval narrative performance. The core of the article traces how an individual performer’s interaction with a stable medieval text both indicates directions medieval performers may have taken and suggests the limitations imposed by modern performance conventions. The discussion touches on issues of adaptation and translation, variation in troupe composition and audience, expectations of modern audiences, impact of costume choices, and limitations of audio and video recordings as documentation of live performance. Juxtaposing eight performances of a single passage clarifies how performance can transform a text, and how a text can impose a consistent character across a range of performance redactions.
Recommended Citation
Zaerr, Linda Marie
(2013)
"How the Axe Falls: A Retrospective on Thirty-five Years of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Performance,"
Accessus: Vol. 1:
Iss.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/accessus/vol1/iss2/3
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Musicology Commons
Interactive Footnotes
The following multimedia and supplemental links are meant to augment the author's work. Please reference the article for context.
19. Performing Medieval Narrative Today; Arthurian Legend in Performance
24. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, lines 417-43
25. Psallite - SGGK Adaptation with Harp
26. Quill Consort - SGGK Adaptation with Lute
27. SGGK with vielle 1990
28. "Greensleeves" with SGGK
29. SGGK 2002 version; SGGK chamber scene
30. SGGK (Middle English)
Stage Adapations