Bell Ringer – 9/16• None Today

• Mrs. B is presenting at a conference and will be back tomorrow. We’ll finish the notes from Friday

DRAMA

Wandering Entertainers Mimists, jugglers, acrobats, wrestlers, and storytellers

How? Acting out the story silently or the reading of a play/script NOT a formal presentation of “theater”

THEATER

Fire Dancers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1BrlXxuSEE

Jugglers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60xJuyJLKng

Storytelling/Reenacting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evb5U0uiUS0

THEATER EXAMPLES

Liturgical drama began as an elaboration of the Roman Catholic Mass, probably in France first

Tropes: elaborations of the Catholic Mass, took place on ceremonial occassions Easter, the dramatic highlight of the Church year

Theatre was adopted by the Church and became an instrument of God in an age of faith and demons

Mystery Plays: Bible Stories Miracle Plays: Lives of the Saints Morality Plays: Didactic Allegories

Characters such as Lust, Pride, and Hatred

THEATER

Included written dialogue

Included Scenery, Costumes, and Gestures written into the Latin instructions

Example: “Paradise shall be situated in a rather prominent place, and is to be hung all around with draperies and silk curtains.”

Example: The Creation of Adam & Eve

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9xG7pt_LGE&feature=related

DRAMA – MYSTERY PLAYS

At first, only priests performed the roles

Soon after, laymen are allowed to act in liturgical drama

Female roles were still mostly portrayed by boys

CHURCH DRAMA

Comic characters appeared, even in the Easter trope.

The most popular comic character of all was the Devil

CHURCH DRAMA

Hellmouth: the mouth of hell into which sinners were cast

Descriptions of devils amid smoke and fire, pulling sinners into the mouth of hell, often the jaws of a dragon-like monster are common

Audiences demanded more and more realism and complexity in the depiction of hellmouth

CHURCH DRAMA - HELLMOUTH

CHURCH DRAMA - HELLMOUTH

Some Hellmouths were so complicated that they took 17 people to operate

Some plays were clearly intended to be frightening

Most, even vividly depicted, seemed to have been comic in their intentions rather than fearsome

Plays of this period are humorous and compassionate

CHURCH DRAMA - HELLMOUTH

In England, France, and the Netherlands, another stage style developed – the wagon stage

Rather than move the audience or set up all the locations in different places on the mansion stage, theatre was brought to the audience on wagons

Similar to the floats of a modern parade

CHURCH DRAMA – WAGON STAGE

Each wagon carried the set for a specific part of the play cycle

Very elaborate – two stories tall and curtained for entrances and exits like modern theater

Some cases, a flat wagon was combined with an elaborate background wagon to provide a playing area Narrow wagons needed to navigate narrow streets

CHURCH DRAMA – WAGON STAGE

At intersections, wagons were coupled and crowds gathered to watch a segment of a play

When the segment finished, the wagon moved on and was replaced by another wagon, creating the setting for another short play in the cycle

CHURCH DRAMA – WAGON STAGE

CHURCH DRAMA – WAGON STAGES

DANCE

Church writings condemned dancing to the 11th century and beyond

St. Augustine said it was better to dig ditches on the Sabbath than to dance a “round dance”

Dancing continued, however, because it gave people pleasure

DANCE

Dances were not planned, they were largely spontaneous

No audience – for fun, not performance

Dancing was a response to a chaotic and frightening world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBv5My9CGLc

DANCE

Performed to instrumental accompaniment

Spontaneous and expressive, but increasingly they conformed to specific rules

Performances depended on the guiding hand of the dancing master – like a square-dance caller

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiE17pvisBg

DANCE – COURTLY TRADITION