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
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