PERFORM Log
November 1992
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Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1992 09:26:29 EST
Reply-To: an open discussion forum for medievalist feminists
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Comments: Resent-From: Jesse Hurlbut
Comments: Originally-From: W Schipper
Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was MEDFEM-L@INDYCMS
From: Jesse Hurlbut
Subject: Attention all medievalists
This note is going out to all discussion groups of medieval
subjects, in the hopes that no one gets left out.
Therefore, if you read it on more than one net, please forgive
us; we're just trying to sweep as broadly as possible.
This past week, the membership of Ansaxnet developed the idea of
a t-shirt/sweat-shirt to honour (AND draw attention to) the electronic
discussion groups of medievalists. We are presently in the process of
finding volunteers for the activities of production, design (we have
two designers already), fund-raising, marketing, order-taking and sales.
It will also be quite a unique feat if we can do most of this organization
via e-mail itself (one will have to look at designs with one's own eyes)!
It has been suggested that all profits generated by the sale of such
shirts be given to the Dictionary of Old English project at the University
of Toronto, which has been badly hit by the recession and was the flagship
of the very big computer-related projects in the area of medieval
scholarship. This seems a very fitting proposal.
The preliminary design of this shirt (in either t or sweat recension)
sounds to be as follows: MEDIEVALISTS ON-LINE on the back, followed by
a list of the nets that discuss medievalia, and the year in which each
was begun. The front is up for discussion: suggestions have been made of
a single letter ('m' for 'medieval' or 'e' for 'electronic'), written in
as many scribal formats as we can fit in (including an electronically-
generated one); a single word (probably in Latin) instead of a letter;
or a collage of impressions, one for each net (could be complex, but let's
see what you think).
Is anyone interested in hearing more about this? Helping out? Commenting
on this idea? Adding to it? Acquiring one of these historical shirts
which are, after all, in a very good cause? We can disseminate some at
Kalamazoo, some at the 1993 ISAS meeting at Oxford, some at other
conferences where people will be. We will need to have our figures, both
required and available, by year's end. If interested, please write to
me privately (and I will post your reply to Ansaxnet).
Many Thanks.
Sarah Larratt Keefer
MEDIEVALISTS ON-LINE T-Shirt Editor-in-Chief
SKEEFER@TRENTU.CA
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:41:22 -0400
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: BRYSON@FRMNVAX1.BITNET
Subject: UNSUBSCRIBE, PLEASE
Please, somebody, unsubscribe me from this list. I have attempted to
unsubscribe from the list using all of the approved protocols - to no avail.I
would appreciate any human intervention in this regard by the managers of THE
LIST.
***********************************
Rhett Bryson - Department of Drama
Furman University - Greenville,SC
Resident Wizard - General Factotum
(bryson@frmnvax1.bitnet)
***********************************
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 13:41:14 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Jesse Hurlbut
Subject: Newberry Library Seminar Announcement
Here's an announcement that may be of interest to this group:
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
Center for Renaissance Studies
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610-3380
(312) 943-9090
=================================================================
"Patronage and Patriarchy, Matronage and Matriarchy"
David Bevington
=================================================================
This seminar will focus on selected dramatic texts from the late
fifteenth century through the early Jacobean period, largely in
terms of new historicist and feminist concerns: patronage of the
drama under Henry VII and VIII; uses of drama in the reigns of
Edward VI and Mary I for polemical purposes close to the court;
the role of Queen Elizabeth in relation to drama that offered
both flattery and criticism; the importance of new Protestant
ideas about companionate marriage and how such ideas are
reflected in Elizabethan drama; and male projections of women as
material for drama.
David Bevington is the Phyllis Fay Horton Professor in the
Humanities at the University of Chicago. His publications include
_From Mankind to Marlowe: Growth of Structure in the Popular
Drama of Tudor England_ (1962) and _Action is Eloquence:
Shakespeare's Language of Gesture_ (1984). He is also a prolific
editor of numerous editions of Renaissance texts, including the
Bantam Shakespeare (1988).
=================================================================
Winter, 1993: Wednesdays, January 6 - March 10
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
=================================================================
To register for this seminar, please contact the Center for
Renaissance Studies. Funds are available to subsidize travel
expenses for members of the Center for Renaissance Studies
consortium.
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 13:45:00 CST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Rick Jones
Subject: Checking in
Just checking in... haven't heard anything from the list in a few
days, and, having been cut off from the list once, I just want to be
sure it hasn't happened again.
Sorry to use the line for this kind of message, but I don't know any
other way. Is there one?
Rick
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 08:40:44 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Jesse Hurlbut
Subject: Re: Checking in
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed,
18 Nov 1992 13:45:00 CST from
Rick,
You could always look through the listserv log for Perform by sending
the following command to LISTSERV@IUBVM: GET PERFORM NOTEBOOK.
We've had a lot of new subscribers in the last few weeks, so allow me
to reiterate that in addition to logging the conversations (for
future reference), the listserv is also capable of storing work
which can be retrieved by any member of the list at any time. This
can include bibliographies, syllabi, papers, etc. I'd like to encourage
anyone teaching in the area of Medieval Performance to send in a copy
or draft of your syllabus, reading list, etc. I think there are several
on the list who would consult them with great interest.
In order to demonstrate this nifty feature, there is a copy of a fairly
humble report on a couple of instances of 15th-c. Burgundian performance--
a banquet and a funhouse--which is available by sending the following
command to LISTSERV@IUBVM: GET HURLBUT PAPER.
Ultimately, we'd like to see a broad collection of materials made
available here. We're open to all kinds of suggestions. If you
would like to submit something (other than regular mail), please
e-ship it to FLANIGAN@IUBVM and we'll do the rest.
Jesse
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 12:04:00 CST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Rick Jones
Subject: Re: Checking in
Jesse--
Thanks for the note. My own message had indeed been delivered (as
opposed to kicked back) to me when I got yours, so I guess it's just
that the list has been relatively quiet of late. Nothing wrong with
that.
BTW, I did indeed get a copy of the NOTEBOOK to see if I'd missed
anything. A suggestion: could it be divided into volumes, as most
other lists do with their archives? The NOTEBOOK is now nearly 3000
lines long, and requires both a lot of time and a lot of storage space
-- especially since what I was interested in was at the end, and my
system (at least) doesn't allow me to move quickly to the end of a
file: I have to get there one screen at a time. Several other lists
create a new archive file every month, so each individual file is only
about 400 lines. Would make life easier for people who need to sign
off for a brief period and then find out what they missed, too.
Just a thought -- really enjoy the discussions. :-)
Rick
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 14:51:54 -0800
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Jonathan Kristein Cohen"
Subject: Samuel Daniel
Can anyone recommend (1) a decent critical edition of Samuel Daniel's
>Cleopatra< and (2) a method of obtaining it? All that we have at the
library is the 1963 Collected Poems and Plays (London, Russell & Russell),
thoroughly uncommented and with some missing pages in the appropriate volume.
Thank you for any response.
Jonathan Cohen, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 13:46:00 CST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Rick Jones
Subject: MEDFEM
A couple weeks ago we received a message addressed to all sorts of
lists for folks interested in medieval studies of various sorts. One of these
was a list for medievalist feminists... I'm thinking it was called
MEDFEM or something like that. I have a colleague who'd like to
subscribe, but (naturally) I've lost the address. Can anyone help me
out?
Thanks in advance!
--Rick
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 15:55:56 -0700
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: CARNAHAN_S@CUBLDR.COLORADO.EDU
Subject: Re: MEDFEM
Rick--the address is MEDFEM-L@INDYCMS (I add .BITNET). Enjoy!
Shirley Carnahan
University of Colorado
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:10:59 -0700
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: CARNAHAN_S@CUBLDR.COLORADO.EDU
Subject: Crossdressing in Medieval Drama
From: IN%"MEDFEM-L%INDYCMS.BITNET@vaxf.colorado.edu" "an open discussion foru
m for medievalist feminists" 16-NOV-1992 16:49:25.53
To: IN%"MEDFEM-L%INDYCMS.BITNET@vaxf.colorado.edu" "Multiple recipients of
list MEDFEM-L"
CC:
Subj: Crossdressing in medieval drama
I'm just beginning a project on crossdressing and homosocial desire in
medieval church and cycle drama, focusing on the Benediktbeuern
Passion Play (from the Carmina Burana MS) and the Digby Magdalene
(15th century East Anglian). The only study I
can find on crossdressing in drama specifically is a 1983 piece by
Meg Twomey in Medieval English Theatre. Does anyone know of any other
articles that deal with this topic? I'm pretty familiar with all the
literature on crossdressing in Renaissance Drama, but anything medieval
would be much appreciated.
In addition, I'd love to hear any thoughts people have on how to
contextualize dramatic crossdressing in the Middle Ages. Right now I'm
gathering stuff from other primary sources (Alain de Lille, Roman de
Silence, Decameron, Saints' Lives, etc.), and I can always use more.
Thanks for your help!
Bruce H.
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:14:18 -0700
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: CARNAHAN_S@CUBLDR.COLORADO.EDU
Subject: Forwarded Message
I just (I hope) forwarded a message from MEDFEM-L which I thought
might interest our list as well. I don't think Bruce H. is on
Perform, so I'll try to find an email address for him. Meanwhile
I thought we could toss the topic around ourselves (get that
much-needed activity going again)!
Shirley Carnahan
University of Colorado
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:50:49 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Steven Urkowitz
Subject: Re: Forwarded Message
In-Reply-To: Message of Mon,
23 Nov 1992 16:14:18 -0700 from
I know this isn't really straight-on about cross-dressing, but as soon as I saw
that request I thought about Hrostvith's DULCITIUS as a performance text. Wer
e the players all female? all male? male and female? Last year I worked with
this play twice in classes, and it bubbles along wonderfully using platea and
sedes conventions and a high spot in the room fo rthe final moment. But do we
know anything about players of the period? Do we know the jolly thing was perf
ormed?
Steve Urkowitz
English Department
City College of New York
SURCC@CUNYVM
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 16:25:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: SQUIDNESS PREVAILS OVER ALL
Subject: Re: Forwarded Message
As far as I can recall Hrothvith's texts were originally closet
dramas performed later...her plays call for many women, but
i am inclined to think that the actors playing these may have been men....
However the women who appear in her plays are virtuous, and I
know that the first female actors that appeared on English
stage were actors playing virtuous parts( i.e. Virgin Mary, Saints, etc)
while other female parts were still played by men...
good luck.
r. Hollender
HR973093@HOPE.EDU
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 17:25:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: WRIGHTS@CUA.BITNET
Subject: Medieval feminist discussion list
From: NETCON::"<@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU:MEDTEXTL@UIUCVMD.BITNET>" 15-SEP-1992 13:2
5:01.94
To: Multiple recipients of list MEDTEXTL
CC:
Subj: Medievalist feminist discussion list
ANNOUNCING A NEW LISTSERV
The Society for Medievalist Feminist Studies is pleased to announce
the creation of a new open discussion forum for topics of interest to
medievalist feminists (or feminist medievalists, if you prefer). We
invite subscriptions and contributions from anyone interested in any
aspect of medieval studies that touches on, or might touch on, feminist
studies/women's studies/gay and lesbian studies.
The purpose of this listserv is to provide an opportunity for debate
and discussion in a spirit of open-mindedness and collegiality. The
listowners have not taken it upon themselves to limit the terms of the
debate, but strongly urge presentation a broad range of topics and
points of view.
To subscribe, send your message to "listserv@indycms" (bitnet) or
"listserv@indycms.iupui.edu" (internet), requesting to subscribe to
MEDFEM-L. For the time being, there is one list owner. If you have
further questions, you may address them to her at iulg100@indyvax
(bitnet) or iulg100@indyvax.iupui.edu (internet).
We look forward to new subscribers and their contributions.
Jennifer Rondeau
Department of History
Indiana University, Indianapolis
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Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 11:39:20 -0500
Reply-To: "Medieval Text - Philology, Codicology, and Technology et
c."
Sender: "Medieval Text - Philology, Codicology, and Technology etc.
"
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 17:29:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: WRIGHTS@CUA.BITNET
Subject: Medieval feminist list
I'm going to try to forward the information on how to subscribe to the
medieval feminist list--I actually have it stashed away in a file
somewhere. If it dosn't show up soon, let me know and I'll try again.
Best regards,
Steve Wright
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 18:05:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: WRIGHTS@CUA.BITNET
Subject: cross dressing in early drama
The only article I can cite offhand is the one by Meg Twycross, but I'll
keep looking. Maybe there is something in the Meredith and Tailby
anthology of medieval stage directions?
While we're on the subject, I've come across a similar problem in
some plays I've worked on. A fifteenth-century Swedish miracle pl,ay
and several German Last Judgement plays include the familiar scene
of the "Maria mediatrix"--where the Virgin kneels before Christ the
Judge and exposes her bare breast to him whikle imploring him to
be merciful to repentent sinners. I've often wonderd how this would
have been staged. Iconographic sources, of course, always show Mary
as a woman, but one supposes the scene must have been played by a
man. How would it have been staged in such a way as not to appear
ludicrous? My own feeling is that the convention of having men play
women's roles was strongly ingrained that even nakedness (as in the
case of Eve in the Garden?) would simply not have seemed pronblematic
to medieval actors and audiences, that is to say, that the physical
"maleness" of the actor would disappear in the role itself. Inf that
is true, then the question I've raised is a wholly modern one. Or
do you suppose that some degree of cognitive dissonance was indeed
generated by cases of cross (un)dressing on the stage? Any thoughts
on the matter?
--Steve Wright
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 14:17:00 CST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Rick Jones
Subject: Dulcitius
The question about performance of _Dulcitius_ is of particular
interest to me, as I just taught the play and also just received
a rather good research paper on the (presumed) original production of
another of Hrotsvitha's plays, _Sapientia_.
My conclusions, for what they're worth:
1) There is absolutely no way we can prove one way or the other that
the play was or was not performed.
2) Whether or not the play was intended for production, there is
ample evidence that Hrotsvitha was at the very least aware of the
concept of staging, that she intended her work to bear at the very
least some strong structural resemblance to that which we call drama
-- i.e. it may have been intended as "mere literature", but if so it
was intended as a particular kind (genre? medium?) of literature.
3) If the play *was* performed, it was most likely performed
exclusively by women -- this throws a big old monkey wrench in the
gender-driven neo-Aristotelian concept of the "development" (or
"origin" or whatever similarly a-critical term we choose) of Medieval
theatre performance... this of course accounts in large part for the
reluctance on the part of some critics to accept Hrotsvitha as part of
the "canon" (another scary word).
4) For my money, the play was performed on a simultaneous set stage
which bore some resemblance to the manse/platea stage of a couple
centuries later and perhaps more resemblance to the tressle stage
employed by Terence, the model on whose dramaturgy H's plays were
based. But can I prove it? Nope.
-- Rick Jones
Cornell College
rjones@cornell-iowa.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 12:33:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Jesse Hurlbut
Subject: Un-dressing on stage (was Cross-dressing)
There is a rare occurrence of outright parody on the stages of
the Joyeuse Entrees of the Dukes of Burgundy which may be of
interest regarding the current discussion of staged nudity. In
short, it's the story of the Judgment of Paris, although, while
the three Graces are nude on stage, they are also the three
ugliest women in Lille.
The description of this performance is preserved only in an
eighteenth-century(?) transcription from a local chronicle--the
remains of which I have sought in vain. I've transcribed the
entire document here with the exception of a final paragraph
describing a fire that destroyed part of the city a week after
this ceremony. (The conventions of e-mail require me to evoke
the original lost ms. by dropping all the accents.)
Jesse
=================================================================
ARCHIVES MUNICIPALES DE LILLE ms. AG 1, dossier 1
Extrait tire d'un manuscrit reposant chez les R.R.P.P. Jesuites a
Armentieres
Comment Charles Duc de Bourgogne fit son entree en la ville de
Lille
Le Duc Charles se partit de la ville de Mons en Haynau, il s'en
vint faire son entree en la ville de Lille, la ou il fut
notablement rechuys de ceulx de la ville, la porte par ou il fit
son entree estoit couverte de hault en bas de draps noirs et
violets, et sy avoit tout du long de la rue depuis la porte
jusqu'a son hotel de moult belles allumories et de bien riches
histoires entre lesquelles il y eut Maistre Patout lequel este de
la maison du Prince, et a cause que luy, sa femme et ses enfans
estoient manans et bourgeois de la ditte ville de Lille et a
celle cause et pour l'honneur du Prince il pleust audit Mr Patout
de lui faire une belle histoire a sa venue en sa bonne ville de
Lille et laquelle histoire este de Paris et des trois Deesses,
Pallas, Venus et Juno. Ledit Maistre Patout pris pour ce faire
trois femmes dont celle qui estoit Venus se nommoit la grosse
Julienne laquelle je tiens que entre mille femmes on ne puisse
point trouver de plus grasse et grosse et de plus grande comme
icelle estoit, et celle qui faisoit le personnaige de Juno se
nommoit Jacquette Broquette, laquelle estoit une longue et meigre
femme qui n'avoit que le peel et les os aussi magre que ung
hairon, et celle qui faisoit le personnage de Pallas se nommoit
Favignon, laquelle etoit bochue, a tout un bien court corps a
grosses epaules et deux longues jambes gresles et menues comme
fusiaux. Et estoient icelles demoiselles toutes trois nues et
parees de colliers d'or en leurs hatriaulx [cou] tout richement
et bien ainsi que l'histoire le requiert. Quand le prince fut
entre en la ville la ou il fust honorablement rechuys des f..rs
de le ville et de tous ceux de la loi et de tout le peuple. Et
le Prince este averty que ledit Maistre Patout lui faisoit une
vraie histoire a sa bien venue, il dict que on lui monstrast,
comme on fist. Quand M. le bon Duc Charles fut allencontre du
hourt de ladite histoire, on lui dit et il commanda de ouvrir et
avant ouvrir on sonnoit au lieu d'un bachin, un cornet de
porquier comme on fist. Quand M. le bon Duc Charles vit ces
trois Deesses et ledit Maitre Patout la couchies, il en eut de
tres grande rire que nullement il ne s'en scavoit estruquier.
Ainsi fust Charles Duc de Bourgoigne bien et honorablement
rechuys et festie en sa bonne ville de Lille. Il n'y jocqua que
une nuict, il s'en partit le lendemenain et s'en alla a Bruges et
de la en Hollande la ou il ne demoura gueres et revins de
Hollande a Bruges.
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 17:20:00 CST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: JMassa@SPONSORED-PROG-PO.DSP.UIOWA.EDU
Subject: cross dressing in early drama
Regarding Steven Wright's question about how to stage a
woman (played by a man) bearing her "breasts" on stage, one
simple solution is to have the "woman" expose herself
flasher-style only to those characters who have to react to
it. The audience would only see "her" back or the sides of
a blouse. The reaction of the other characters would make
it clear what she is doing, and this would be shocking
enough.
Just a thought.
John
John-Massa@uiowa.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1992 11:35:00 CST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Rick Jones
Subject: RE: cross dressing in early drama
My temptation is to agree with Steve Wright's own doubts that there
would have been any cognitive dissonance in the act of a male actor
playing a "naked" female. It is certainly plausible that some staging
trick was employed, but my temptation is to believe that there simply
wasn't a problem. I'd note, for example, that there are several
references to exposed female breasts in the plays of Aristophanes --
some scholars have argued that this means that female slaves played
either chorus or supernumerary parts, but I'm unconvinced, pending further
evidence (or a more complete argument): it is perfectly plausible that
in the Greek [or medieval] theatre, the fact that men played women was
*never* a problem.
But what I'm doing is speculating... that's the scholar's term for
"taking a wild guess".
Rick Jones
Cornell College
=========================================================================
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1992 21:12:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: WRIGHTS@CUA.BITNET
Subject: cross dressing in early drama
Thanks to all for their suggestions about how medieval actors might
have staged the scene in which the Virgin displays her breast to
Christ. It seems to me, however, that John Massa's suggestion that
the (male?) actor might have down this "flasher-style" so as to elicit
the medieval equivalent of a modern film "reaction shot"--a look
of shock or surprise on the faces of the other actors--won't do in
this case. For one thing, actors and audeinces would have been
accustomed to the iconography of the scene in question, in which
the Virgin is always positioned so that the viewer (as well as the
figure of Christ depicted in the image) is invited to gaze on the
scene as a kind of devotional icon, an emblem of the Virgin's
maternal sacrifices on behalf of her son. What is more,
dramatizations of the scene inevitably include a lengthy
monologue by the Virgin in which she calls upon her son (and the
audience) to gaze upon her breats and contemplate her suffering.
So a quick "flash" to other on-stage characters would actually
defeat the devotional impact of the scene. I think my problem
is that I'm asking an essentially modern question about
theatrical verisimilitude--a question that simply would not have'
occurred to fifteenth-century minds. I once saw a production of
the York cycle where the "naked" Adam and Eve wore body stockings,
thus provoking the audience to amused titters--definitlet not
the response intended by either medieval playwrights or modern
producers.
--Steve Wright