Concepts and Practices of Performance in Medieval European Culture I

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Clare Wright; Sarah Brazil

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. of Kent; Univ. de Genève

Presider Name

Sarah Brazil

Paper Title 1

Performative Ideas and Altercations in the Medieval English University

Presenter 1 Name

Thomas Meacham

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Independent Scholar

Paper Title 2

Pornographic Performance in Farce: The "Lapsus Gestus"

Presenter 2 Name

Jody Enders

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. of California-Santa Barbara

Paper Title 3

Angela of Foligno's Poly-Performativity

Presenter 3 Name

William Robert

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Syracuse Univ.

Start Date

10-5-2019 1:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1330

Description

In her recently published introduction to volume 2 of A Cultural History of the Theatre, Jody Enders calls for “a much-needed re-examination of some of the teleologies that have dominated medieval theatre studies” (Enders, 2017). In the Middle Ages, ‘theatre’ was constituted by a network of “heterogenous performance practices” (Enders, 2017) – practices that overlapped and intersected with one another in ways that challenge generic assumptions about “drama” and “performance,” and the critical vocabulary we use to discuss them. This panel session will answer Enders’ call by exploring a range performance events from different disciplinary perspectives. Our panellists will discuss, for example, festive and didactic performance in English universities (including altercationes, conflictus, and flytings); medieval farce; performed libel and slander in medieval and early modern England; and the ‘poly-performativity’ of mystic Angela of Foligno and the intersections of gender, prayer and liturgy her performative scenes exemplify. In doing so, each will consider what ‘performance practice’ might mean in a medieval and early modern context, what paradigms are at work in these performance events and how they might affect the way we as modern scholars think about ‘performance’ and its place in medieval European culture more broadly.

Clare Wright; Sarah Brazil

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May 10th, 1:30 PM

Concepts and Practices of Performance in Medieval European Culture I

Schneider 1330

In her recently published introduction to volume 2 of A Cultural History of the Theatre, Jody Enders calls for “a much-needed re-examination of some of the teleologies that have dominated medieval theatre studies” (Enders, 2017). In the Middle Ages, ‘theatre’ was constituted by a network of “heterogenous performance practices” (Enders, 2017) – practices that overlapped and intersected with one another in ways that challenge generic assumptions about “drama” and “performance,” and the critical vocabulary we use to discuss them. This panel session will answer Enders’ call by exploring a range performance events from different disciplinary perspectives. Our panellists will discuss, for example, festive and didactic performance in English universities (including altercationes, conflictus, and flytings); medieval farce; performed libel and slander in medieval and early modern England; and the ‘poly-performativity’ of mystic Angela of Foligno and the intersections of gender, prayer and liturgy her performative scenes exemplify. In doing so, each will consider what ‘performance practice’ might mean in a medieval and early modern context, what paradigms are at work in these performance events and how they might affect the way we as modern scholars think about ‘performance’ and its place in medieval European culture more broadly.

Clare Wright; Sarah Brazil