PERFORM Log
January 1997
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Date: Wed, 1 Jan 1997 06:37:08 -0500
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Jack M. Kamen"
Subject: Re: MEDIEVAL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC IN CD
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At 03:08 PM 12/31/96 -0500, you wrote:
>At 11:38 AM 12/31/96 -0500, you wrote:
>>IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE EARLIEST INSTRUMENTAL
>>EUROPEAN MUSIC PRESERVED, SEND A E-MAIL TO GRUPO
>>CINCO SIGLOS (cincosig@sinix.net)
>>THE GROUP HAVE TWO CD's:
>>1.- UNOS TAN DULGES SONES
>>2.- DANSSE REAL
>>
>>please send info
>
> thanks
>
>
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Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 11:42:11 GMT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Avril Henry
Subject: Re: The Stuart Masque: Music
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Can anyone kindly point me to in-print tapes or CDs of music which
has been associated with the Masques? My bibliography has musical
scores, and plenty *about* the music, but no examples of recordings.
Avril
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: A.K.Henry@exeter.ac.uk
tel: 01392 264252
fax: +44 1392 264361
snail: Professor Avril Henry, School of English & American Studies,
Queen's Building, Queen's Drive, University of Exeter,
EXETER, UK, EX4 4QH
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Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 12:03:26 GMT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
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From: Avril Henry
Subject: Mail failure (fwd)
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This enquiry relates to post-medieval music, but can anyone kindly
point me to in-print tapes or CDs of music which
has been associated with the Masques? My bibliography has musical
scores, and plenty *about* the music, but no examples of recordings.
Happy 1997 to all.
Avril
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: A.K.Henry@exeter.ac.uk
tel: 01392 264252
fax: +44 1392 264361
snail: Professor Avril Henry, School of English & American Studies,
Queen's Building, Queen's Drive, University of Exeter,
EXETER, UK, EX4 4QH
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 12:13:33 GMT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Avril Henry
Subject: Masques Music?
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Strictly, this enquiry relates to post-medieval music, but can
anyone kindly point me to in-print tapes or CDs of music which
has been associated with the Stuart Masques? My bibliography has musical
scores, and plenty *about* the music, but no examples of recordings.
Happy 1997 to all.
Avril
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: A.K.Henry@exeter.ac.uk
tel: 01392 264252
fax: +44 1392 264361
snail: Professor Avril Henry, School of English & American Studies,
Queen's Building, Queen's Drive, University of Exeter,
EXETER, UK, EX4 4QH
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: A.K.Henry@exeter.ac.uk
tel: 01392 264252
fax: +44 1392 264361
snail: Professor Avril Henry, School of English & American Studies,
Queen's Building, Queen's Drive, University of Exeter,
EXETER, UK, EX4 4QH
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: A.K.Henry@exeter.ac.uk
tel: 01392 264252
fax: +44 1392 264361
snail: Professor Avril Henry, School of English & American Studies,
Queen's Building, Queen's Drive, University of Exeter,
EXETER, UK, EX4 4QH
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Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 16:56:32 -0600
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Robert L. A. Clark"
Subject: 'Jeu d'Adam'
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Apologies for the cross-posting of this query.
I am about to teach the so-called 'Jeu d'Adam' (or the 'Ordo
representacionis Ade', if you prefer) and am also working up a paper on the
question of what would have been this drama's original audience. I would
greatly appreciate references to works which might help elucidate the text's
sociopolitical background (the text is Anglo-Norman in origin and has been
dated to the mid 12th century). I'm particulary interested in works that
shed light on the local economics of feudalism, especially the relationship
between ecclesiastical lords and their tenants.
Thanks in advance,
Robert Clark
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Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 19:44:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Alan E. Knight"
Subject: Re: 'Jeu d'Adam'
In-Reply-To: rclark AT KSU.EDU -- Fri, 17 Jan 1997 16:56:32 -0600
Bob,
To find information on the feudal background of the 'Jeu d'Adam',
you should start with:
Maurice Accarie, 'La Legitimation de la societe feodale dans le
_Jeu d'Adam_', in _Melanges de litterature du moyen age au XXe
siecle offerts a Mademoiselle Jeanne Lods_ (Paris, 1978), 1: 1-18.
Alan
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Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 11:11:58 -0600
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Robert L. A. Clark"
Subject: 'Jeu d'Adam' bis
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Thanks to all those who responded to my initial query on the 'Adam'. I
have a follow-up query.
Does anyone know if there is a good modern French translation of the Adam?
(I am teaching a mix of graduate and undergraduate students in this class
and we are reading all of the texts in French translation.) I am using the
Frappier/Gossart trans. of 1935 from the Classiques Larousse _Theatre
religieux au moyen-age_. It is not a very satisfactory text. To begin with,
it does not even include the first of the didascalia. Nor does it
include the Procession of the Prophets (excpet for the altercation
between Isaiah and the Jew... in Old French). So my students get a whole
packet containing the text with various supplements which leave them
completely bemused until we get it all sorted out.
Cheers,
Bob Clark
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Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 23:37:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Alan E. Knight"
Subject: Re: 'Jeu d'Adam' bis
In-Reply-To: rclark AT KSU.EDU -- Mon, 20 Jan 1997 11:11:58 -0600
Bob,
As far as I know there is no satisfactory modern French translation
of the Jeu d'Adam. I am using (tomorrow) the Gustave Cohen version
of 1936, which is only marginally better than that by Frappier.
It at least has the music in it. Still, I have to make numerous
corrections for the students who do not read Old French.
Maybe one of the Francophone members of the list would be willing
to make a new and accuarate translation into modern French.
Alan
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Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 08:43:16 -0800
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Jody Enders
Subject: Re: 'Jeu d'Adam' bis
In-Reply-To:
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Dear Bob, Alan, and colleagues,
I confess that I teach the Adam frequently, and have always found it
easiest to use David Bevington's English translation in Medieval Drama.
Depending on how "purist" French depts are about reading in English,
this may or not be a solution. My personal (always positive) experience
is that the students actually look more at the Old French when they have
facing English. Then if there are extra philological or translation
commentaries to be made, we are at least dealing with translation into
their native tongue.
Jody Enders
On Mon, 20 Jan 1997, Alan E. Knight wrote:
> Bob,
>
> As far as I know there is no satisfactory modern French translation
> of the Jeu d'Adam. I am using (tomorrow) the Gustave Cohen version
> of 1936, which is only marginally better than that by Frappier.
> It at least has the music in it. Still, I have to make numerous
> corrections for the students who do not read Old French.
>
> Maybe one of the Francophone members of the list would be willing
> to make a new and accuarate translation into modern French.
>
> Alan
>
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Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 10:58:24 -0800
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Michel Rousse
Subject: Re: 'Jeu d'Adam' bis
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Avez-vous regardi la traduction -ancienne mais...- d'Henri Chamard: Le
Mysthre d'Adam. Drame religieux du XIIe sihcle. Texte du manuscrit de
Tours et traduction nouvelle, Paris, 1925.
Cette idition ne propose que la partie Adam et Eve.
Cordialement
Michel Rousse
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Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 09:06:45 -0600
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Max Harris
Subject: "Folk theatre"
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Can anybody suggest a single term that would cover the wide range of
theatrical and quasi-theatrical activities that are neither professional nor
literary: i.e. representationl processions, scripted (rather than purely
competitive) mock battles, narrative folk dances, courtly spectacles,
Mummers Plays, etc. "Folk theatre" doesn't cover courtly performances.
"Popular theatre" doesn't exclude _The Mousetrap_. "Traditional theatre"
doesn't exclude Noh and Kabuki. "Outdoor theatre" neither includes indoor
Mummers Plays nor excludes Shakespeare in the Park. Any suggestions? I'm
open to the obvious phrase that I may have missed or the new-coined phrase
for which you will be duly credited as its "onlie begetter."
Max Harris
UW-Madison
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Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 09:49:10 -0600
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Robert L. A. Clark"
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
In-Reply-To: <199701241506.JAA60634@audumla.students.wisc.edu>
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Max,
I think that the "problem term" in the examples that you give below is
not "folk" or "popular" or "traditional"... but "theatre." How about
"cultural performance" (with a wink and a nod to Victor Turner and Cliff
Flanigan).
Cheers,
Bob Clark
On Fri, 24 Jan 1997, Max Harris wrote:
> Can anybody suggest a single term that would cover the wide range of
> theatrical and quasi-theatrical activities that are neither professional nor
> literary: i.e. representationl processions, scripted (rather than purely
> competitive) mock battles, narrative folk dances, courtly spectacles,
> Mummers Plays, etc. "Folk theatre" doesn't cover courtly performances.
> "Popular theatre" doesn't exclude _The Mousetrap_. "Traditional theatre"
> doesn't exclude Noh and Kabuki. "Outdoor theatre" neither includes indoor
> Mummers Plays nor excludes Shakespeare in the Park. Any suggestions? I'm
> open to the obvious phrase that I may have missed or the new-coined phrase
> for which you will be duly credited as its "onlie begetter."
>
> Max Harris
> UW-Madison
>
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Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 09:53:33 -0600
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: virginia l rinkevich
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
In-Reply-To: <199701241506.JAA60634@audumla.students.wisc.edu>
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. .. . ginger . .. ... "May those who followed us, and will
gingrink@unlgrad1.unl.edu follow us, in the future spin the
university of nebraska @ lincoln thread further!" -- Peter Sinner
lincoln, nebraska . .. 1 february 1928 Leningrad prison
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Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 11:38:41 -0500
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: tom bishop
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
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For Max Harris,
"Community performance" perhaps? All of the examples you cite seem to have
in common that they are for, by, and to a particular community and perform
in some sense that community's understanding of its own structure and
collective inheritance.
Tom Bishop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Bishop
Department of English
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH 44106.
(216) 368-2371
(216) 368-2216 (fax)
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
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Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 11:56:59 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Carol Symes <75123.1446@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
Dear Max:
Some folks are using the term "cultural performance" to describe activities
like those. I prefer to be cagey and say "community theatre" or "public
performance" or even just "theatre." The bee in my bonnet is that our notion
of theatre is far too narrow: we think of proscenium arches and things like
that. When cultural historians talk about Carnival-time as "a theatre without
walls" they are on the right track; but in world where there are no theatres
_with_ walls . . .
But I'll stop there - and get back to work on the dissertation that's supposed
to support such outrageous statements.
Carol Symes
csymes@fas.harvard.edu
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Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 14:32:19 -0800
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Robert Potter
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
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Dear Max;
How about "Paratheatrical" (or, perhaps better, "para-theatrical") on the
analogy of para-legal and para-military. Or indeed para-psychology!
Yours for telepathy,
Bob Potter
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Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 16:45:36 -0700
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Jesse D. Hurlbut"
Organization: Brigham Young University
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
> Dear Max:
>
> Some folks are using the term "cultural performance" to describe activities
> like those.
Since I am interested in the cultural aspects of these kinds of
performance, I favor "cultural performance"--a formulation
originating in Milton Singer's study of Eastern Indian civilization
(When a Great Tradition Modernizes, p. 71):
"The performances became for me the elementary constituents of the
culture and the ultimate units of observation. Each one had a
definitely limited time span, or at least a beginning and an end, an
organized program of activity, a set of performers, an audience, and
a place and occasion of performance."
The term has been picked up by Performance Studies folks (John J.
MacAloon, et al.) and used a lot in cultural anthropological types of
work.
good luck,
Jesse
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Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 00:46:03 -0600
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: virginia l rinkevich
Subject: list help
In-Reply-To: <2112F022BF@jkhbhrc.byu.edu>
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please and thank you in advance....
...how does on go no-mail from this list for afew months?
ginger....
. .. . ginger . .. ... "May those who followed us, and will
gingrink@unlgrad1.unl.edu follow us, in the future spin the
university of nebraska @ lincoln thread further!" -- Peter Sinner
lincoln, nebraska . .. 1 february 1928 Leningrad prison
=========================================================================
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 20:29:29 -0000
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Tony and Sinead Corbett
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
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How about 'paradrama' or 'paradramatic activity'? I've been using the term
in lectures for a couple of years and it covers a lot of ground, including
juggling, ballad-singing, recitation and the like. Almost any activity
that is 'performable', but is not drama (now there's a term I'd like to see
defined!) can fall under the heading 'paradrama'
Cheers
Tony Corbett
Department of English
University College,
Cork
Ireland
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Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 13:14:06 +1000
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Nerida Newbigin
Subject: Rotuli/rolls/roles
The discussion of ludus and its shifting meanings is fascinating.
I am looking at the account books of the Gonfalone confraternity that
performed the Passion in the Roman Colosseum between 1490 and 1539. In 1504
and again in 1507 they paid for the copying of "rotuli" in the sense of parts
for individual "dicitori," speakers or actors. In a separate MS miscellany
volume of drafts and texts, one of which is dated 1531, there are parts for
Judas (three different versions) and for Pilate, which have clearly been
folded lengthwise and were probably not rolled. I assume however that these
are "rotuli." Does anyone have any sense of when the roll/scroll become the
piece of paper with a character's words on it, or a circumflexed role?
I am aware of the fourteenth-century _Officium Quarti Militis_ from Sulmona,
which is a roll with part of the Fourth Soldier; and the lost rolls of the
_Ludus Trium Regum_ from Ivrea, cited by De Bartholomaeis. Are there other
single parts for plays outside Italy?
Many thanks,
Nerida Newbigin
nerida.newbigin@italian.su.edu.au
Department of Italian, A26, University of Sydney,
NSW 2006 Australia
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Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 23:59:27 -0600
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: virginia l rinkevich
Subject: list help
In-Reply-To:
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what is the trick to going no mail?
please and thank you in advance...
ginger
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Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 09:12:31 +0000
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Graham A. Runnalls"
Organization: Arts
Subject: Actors' roles
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In reply to Neridas's enquiry about actors' roles, I think, as far as
France is concerned, the first probably go back as far as the 14th C,
though most of those surviving are 15th or early 16th. I would refer
her to the following bibliography (apologies for the
self-advertisement):
Elisabeth Lalou, "Les rolets de theatre : etude codicologique", Actes
du 115e Congres National des Societes Savantes, Avignon 1990, pp.
51-71 [list of all surviving French roles and transcription of
several]
Graham A. Runnalls, "The Actors' roles found in the Friboug Archives"
Pluteus 4-5 (1986-7) 7-67
Graham A. Runnalls, =93An Actor=92s r=F4le in a French Morality Play=94,
French Studies XLIV (1988) 398-407
Graham A. Runnalls, "Towards a Typology of
Medieval Play Manuscripts=94, The Editor and the Text : Essays in
Honour of A.J.Holden, Edinburgh University Press, 1990, 96-113.
For German roles:
Hans-Jurgen Linke, "Versuch uber deutsche Handschriften
mittelalterlicher Spiele", in: Deutsche Handschriften 1100-1400,
heraugegeben von Honemann und Palmer, Max Niemeyer
Verlag, Tubingen 1988; pp. 527-589
___________________________________________
Professor Graham A. Runnalls
Department of French
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, UK, EH8 9JU
Fax +44 (0)131 650 8408
Tel work: +44 (0)131 650 8410/8420
Tel home: +44 (0)131 337 1737
email g.a.runnalls@ed.ac.uk
_____________________________________________
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Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 10:57:58 +0000
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: J C Cummings
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
In-Reply-To: <199701262030.UAA15442@behan.iol.ie> from "Tony and Sinead
Corbett" at Jan 26, 97 08:29:29 pm
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>
> How about 'paradrama' or 'paradramatic activity'? I've been using the term
> in lectures for a couple of years and it covers a lot of ground, including
> juggling, ballad-singing, recitation and the like. Almost any activity
> that is 'performable', but is not drama (now there's a term I'd like to see
> defined!) can fall under the heading 'paradrama'
>
I'm not sure if that was specifically what the original poster
wanted to cover. I also fumble around with various
unsatisfactory terms and in general favour 'para-dramatic,
quasi-dramatic etc.' But for the type of community based
production of folk theatre that the original poster was
querying, I think the emphassis on 'community' that
someone else suggested is more appropriate.
It seems that there are two (at least!) types of things we
are trying to define. That _stuff_ which is like "drama"
but somehow is either going over its 'boundaries' or is
not in the situation one would expect. And things which
are performative but not drama (stilt-walking, juggling,
etc.). I've always called the latter 'dramatic (or quasi/para-
dramatic) activity'. But realise that is slightly inappropriate.
Likewise, I think it is also inappropriate to bring in theatre
based terms (such as meta-theatrical, in all its misused senses).
-james
--
James Cummings, engjcc@gps.leeds.ac.uk, School of English, University of Leeds.
NEW URL!!: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/~engjcc
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Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 08:53:45 -0700
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Jesse D. Hurlbut"
Organization: Brigham Young University
Subject: Re: list help
> ...how does on go no-mail from this list for afew months?
>
Send mail to LISTSERV@IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU
In the body of the letter, type:
SET PERFORM NOMAIL <==Turns mail delivery off.
SET PERFORM MAIL <==Turns the mail delivery back on.
Let me know if I can be of any help,
Jesse_Hurlbut@byu.edu
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Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 09:25:47 -0700
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Jesse D. Hurlbut"
Organization: Brigham Young University
Subject: Perform list administration
Sorry to detract from the interesting conversation, but I need to
know if anyone else who has recently sent a letter to PERFORM has
received a message starting out like the one below. If so, please send me a
personal note at jesse_hurlbut@byu.edu (don't use reply or it will go
to the whole list). Your input will help me get rid of this little
annoyance.
Thank you,
Jesse_Hurlbut@byu.edu
+++++++SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Subject: Mail failure
Date sent: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 11:01:00 -0500
[002] Mail was received for unknown addresses.
Message was not delivered to
nrc/IRC/hill (nrc/IRC/hill)
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Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 12:08:57 -0700
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Jesse D. Hurlbut"
Organization: Brigham Young University
Subject: Jan. 20
Alan,
I just received your dues for MRDS (It's still Jan. 20 here in
Utah). I didn't compose the somewhat terse language of the request
for dues payment, but I won't shirk off responsibility or blame
anyone else. Your membership is very welcome and I'll make sure you
get your copy of RORD!
best,
Jesse
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Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 15:36:49 -0400
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Alan Brody
Subject: Re: Jan. 20
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Jesse -
I'm not sure what this is all about, but my suspicion is that you've got
the wrong E-Mail address. It's confusing because I AM a member of ATHE,
but not of MRDS, and since i never got a request for dues payment, I hacve
no idea of whether you were terse or not. Sorry for the confousion.
Alan Brody
Associate Provost for the Arts
MIT
>Alan,
>
>I just received your dues for MRDS (It's still Jan. 20 here in
>Utah). I didn't compose the somewhat terse language of the request
>for dues payment, but I won't shirk off responsibility or blame
>anyone else. Your membership is very welcome and I'll make sure you
>get your copy of RORD!
>
>best,
>
>Jesse
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 13:49:06 -0600
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Max Harris
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
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Thanks to all who suggested terms for "the wide range of theatrical and
quasi-theatrical activities that are neither professional nor
literary: i.e. representationl processions, scripted (rather than purely
competitive) mock battles, narrative folk dances, courtly spectacles,
Mummers Plays, etc." I'm afraid, however, that the majority suggestion of
"cultural performance" doesn't do it for me, either, since that could cover
such non-theatrical performative activities as a performance of Beethoven's
5th Symphony and is often used by cultural anthropologists/theatre types to
cover social rituals that are not, in my mind, theatrical (except
metaphorically), such as initiation rites, cocktail parties, etc.
("Community performance" runs into the same problem and "community theatre"
would include the local amateur dramatic performance of Shakespeare or
Christopher Fry which, although not professional, is literary.) Nor does the
runner-up, "paratheatrical activities" do it, since part of my argument is
that the kind of "folk theatre" (for want of a better term) that I am
researching is a) theatre (performers represent characters other than
themselves in a series of actions that together tell a story of some sort to
an audience of some sort); and b) at its best, just as complex and
sophisticated as the best of the literary, professional theatre, even though
it may seem "garbled" or "naive" to those who are unfamiliar with its
particular modes of manipulating signs. In other words, it is DARN GOOD
THEATRE and not something less than, marginal to, or even other than
theatre. So I want to call it theatre, but I'd like an adjective to qualify
theatre that distinguishes the stuff I'm dealing with from what I tend to
call "literary" or "professional theatre." I recognise that some of the
activities I'm talking about involve professionals (although more often
payments are made to carpenters, painters, and suppliers of fireworks and
costumes than they are to actors) and that some involve texts (although, in
my experience, the words spoken are the least important signs in a "folk"
performance). So the boundaries, as always, are fluid. But I do want to hold
on to the noun "theatre." What I need is an adjective. "Folk theatre" covers
most (perhaps all) of what I see today in Spain, Mexico, and the Caribbean,
and would still be my first choice if only it could be stretched to include
those medieval and Renaissance performances whose participants were kings
and courtiers (rather than "folk") and to which, I believe, much of today's
"folk theatre" (contra Frazer, Alford, etc.) traces its roots. Perhaps the
problem term here, after all, is not "theatre" but "folk"!
Any takers for a second round of suggestions?
Best wishes,
Max Harris
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 20:07:24 -0000
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Tony and Sinead Corbett
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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> > How about 'paradrama' or 'paradramatic activity'? [...snip...] Almost
any activity
> > that is 'performable', but is not drama (now there's a term I'd like to
see
> > defined!) can fall under the heading 'paradrama'.
>
> I'm not sure if that was specifically what the original poster
> wanted to cover. [...snip...] But for the type of community based
> production of folk theatre [...snip...], I think the emphassis on
'community' that
> someone else suggested is more appropriate.
>
I take your point about the original posting, but I'm not sure that it
doesn't cover community production of performance-activities (and how
clumsy that phrase is!). True, it doesn't specifically single them out as
a category on their own, but I wonder if they were. To be so, we would
have to define types of theatrical activity in terms of 'who put them on'
rather than in terms of 'what they were about'. There's nothing wrong with
this as a procedure, but we'd need to be clear on the kind of definition
we're using.
> It seems that there are two (at least!) types of things we
> are trying to define. That _stuff_ which is like "drama"
> but somehow is either going over its 'boundaries' or is
> not in the situation one would expect. And things which
> are performative but not drama (stilt-walking, juggling,
> etc.). I've always called the latter 'dramatic (or quasi/para-
> dramatic) activity'. But realise that is slightly inappropriate.
>
The problem I have with the two types of things is that they may be really
one thing, performed entertainment for an audience. Particularly if one
looks at modern drama, which is much less script-driven, and may be based
on movement or music or lighting rather than words. I admit to some
confusion.
> Likewise, I think it is also inappropriate to bring in theatre
> based terms (such as meta-theatrical, in all its misused senses).
Sure, not argument there. I find the term 'theatre' and all its parsings
best avoided. Especially with undergraduates, it causes confusion with the
building! Sad but true!
Le gach dea-ghui
Tony Corbett
Department of English
University College
Cork
Ireland
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 15:45:28 -0500
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Clifford Davidson
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
In-Reply-To: "Your message dated Mon, 27 Jan 1997 10:57:58 +0000"
<199701271057.KAA28815@gps.leeds.ac.uk>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Terminology is a problem, all the more so because of the tendency to use so
much jargon these days--jargon which will limit the usefulness of present
research for future generations. In certain cases, instead of 'theater' some
have used the term 'quasi-dramatic'; others have used 'ritual drama' for
certain specific types of ceremonies and plays. But perhaps there is no simple
answer to the question of finding a standard terminology.
Clifford Davidson
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 22:01:53 +0100
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Jelle Koopmans
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
In-Reply-To:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Dear Max (and Bob),
Please be careful in using the term `para-theatrical', because it tends
to separate two fields that may have been felt as one. The modern notion
of `theatre' or `drama' (in some languages, e.g. German and French, the
problem is a bit different) is one of our main obstacles in understanding
non-dramatic performances of which we feel some kind of theatre is taking
place. Oskar Schlemmer formulated a wonderful `Scheme for stage, cult and
popular entertainment' Reproduced in D. La Capra & S. Kaplan, Modern
European Intellectual History in a new perspective, Munich, chapter VIII
Peter Jelavich, `Popular dimensions of Modernist Elite culture: the case
of Theater in Fin-de-Siecle Munich' p.228 (reproduces from W. Gropius,
ed., The Theatre of the Bauhaus, 1961. You may want to have a look at
that scheme (or ask me to send you a xerox).
Ever,
Jelle Koopmans
French Dept
University of Amsterdam
Spuistraat 134
NL-1012 VB Amsterdam
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 22:46:35 +0100
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Jelle Koopmans
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
In-Reply-To: <199701271949.NAA71862@audumla.students.wisc.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Dear Max,
Since my first reply bounced, I'll try again: you may want to look at the
scheme Oskar Schlemmer drew up, reproduced in D. La Capra & S. Kaplan,
Modern European Intellectual History in a new perspective, Munich (ch. 8
`Popular Dimensions of Modern Elitist Culture' by Peter Jelavich, p.228),
original in W. Gropius, ed., The theatre of the Bauhaus, 1961.
Ever,
Jelle Koopmans
French Dept
University of Amsterdam
Spuistraat 134
NL-1012 VB Amsterdam
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 12:19:18 -0700
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Jesse D. Hurlbut"
Organization: Brigham Young University
Subject: What NOT to do if you want to send a personal message
If you click REPLY from a PERFORM message, it does not go privately to the
original sender but to the whole list. I have just demonstrated this
in my previous posting, originally intended for private consumption.
IOW, Please disregard previous note.
Jesse
Red-Faced List Administrator
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 08:41:45 +0000
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Graham A. Runnalls"
Organization: Arts
Subject: Re: Perform list administration
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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Yes. I got one of these stranae messages in reply to sending my
message about actors' roles. I ignored it, since I think the message
got through.
Graham
___________________________________________
Professor Graham A. Runnalls
Department of French
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, UK, EH8 9JU
Fax +44 (0)131 650 8408
Tel work: +44 (0)131 650 8410/8420
Tel home: +44 (0)131 337 1737
email g.a.runnalls@ed.ac.uk
_____________________________________________
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 12:21:07 +0100
Reply-To: kramer@let.rug.nl
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Femke
Organization: Faculteit der Letteren, RuG, NL
Subject: Re: rolls
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Several sixteenth-century Dutch `rederijkers'-plays have been
preserved in separate parts only. Some fascinating
vicissitudes of such rolls are recorded in the report of a
preliminary hearing in Brussels, 1559, in which some allegedly
subversive plays were investigated as to their provenance and
meaning. One of the actors, for instance, is interrogated
about whereabouts of the integral version of a play text he
copied earlier in separate rolls (in sixteenth-century Dutch,
there even was a special verb to indicate this activity:
`rolleren'). He states that he carried it on his body for a
while, not knowing what to do with it. The imminent
prosecution of actors in suspicious plays made him so anxious,
that one evening he drank too much and then he must have lost
the text. He promises that he will reconstruct the integral
text from the rolls and hand it over to the attorney. I
discussed these reports briefly in my contribution to the 1992
SITM conference in Girona (see_Formes Teatrals de la Tradicio
Medieval_ ed. Francesc Massip, Barcelona 1996, p. 286).
Femke Kramer
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 07:23:07 -0500
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "Richard elGuru[tm] Howland-Bolton"
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Any takers for a second round of suggestions?
How about coining "Theatroid." It's not THAT ugly when compared to other
jargon (eg it's more logical--or at least etymological--than "factoid).
It does maintain your association with theater too.
rhb
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 15:06:08 -0800
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Robert Potter
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I'm forwarding a message on the "Folk Theatre" issue, which failed to
arrive in the midst of the discussion due to technical problems.
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 17:42:15 -0500 (EST)
From: BOURASSA ANDRE G
X-Sender: r10005@nobel.si.uqam.ca
To: potter@humanitas.ucsb.edu
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre" (fwd)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Bonjour!
I sent about the same answer as you, but it was rejected because our
server used an address which is not the one of my subscription. Maybe you
could forward it as a confirmation of your proposition.
Thanks, Andre G. Bourassa.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 12:36:41 -0500 (EST)
From: BOURASSA ANDRE G
To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
In French, we sometimes use "paratheatre" for some of those performances
(pageants, parades, etc.). Not to be confused with "metatheatre" (theatre
on theatre). See the "Glossaire" of the web page "Theatrales":
http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/c2545/index.htm
european mirror: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/sol/uqam/index.htm
Andre G. Bourassa .
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 15:21:51 -0800
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Robert Potter
Subject: Re: "Folk theatre"
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Dear Jelle;
Your first reply didn't bounce. Nor did your second. Both came thundering
into my computer this morning, thanks to this blessing/curse called e mail.
And as usual, you have a significant and deeply-documented point to make.
I always like an excuse to look at Gropius' Theatre of the Bauhaus (with
its intimations of a time when utopian schemes were not only possible but
necessary), and I will have a look next time I get to the library. Good to
hear from you, and best wishes from California!
Bob Potter
>Dear Max,
>Since my first reply bounced, I'll try again: you may want to look at the
>scheme Oskar Schlemmer drew up, reproduced in D. La Capra & S. Kaplan,
>Modern European Intellectual History in a new perspective, Munich (ch. 8
>`Popular Dimensions of Modern Elitist Culture' by Peter Jelavich, p.228),
>original in W. Gropius, ed., The theatre of the Bauhaus, 1961.
>
>Ever,
>
>Jelle Koopmans
>French Dept
>University of Amsterdam
>Spuistraat 134
>NL-1012 VB Amsterdam
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 16:18:47 -0500
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: "(Re)Soundings WWW Account"
Subject: Call for Papers (fwd)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
(Re)Soundings: http://www.millersv.edu/~resound
CALL FOR PAPERS
While materials are accepted at any time, texts submitted by March 15,
1997 will move smoothly into the next publication set. Articles are
particularly solicited that take advantage of the multimedia potential of
the World Wide Web. While materials are most easily accepted as HTML
coded materials, there is no necessity that they be submitted in that
format. Hard copy submissions are entirely welcome, as are materials on
diskette utilizing either IBM or Macintosh platforms. Materials are
peer-reviewed.
About (Re)Soundings:
(Re)Soundings: A World Wide Web Publication is a collaborative effort
among an international group of scholars publishing in electronic form on
the Internet. The journal is innovative in comprising music, visual art,
and verbal texts while allowing readers to engage these texts with their
own multimedia commentary hotbuttons which become part of the journal.
The scope of the peer reviewed journal is the humanities.
The critical texts should be primarily in English; translations should be
supplied for texts in other languages.
The multimedia format encourages interaction among traditional
disciplines including art, history, literature, and music, while
particularly inviting multicultural, ethnic, and women's studies
participation. This is an environment in which scholars and artists can
create and discuss texts, sharing and building commentary in a variety of
media, integrating sound and graphics as well as written materials.
Send submissions to:
Bonnie Duncan or Steve Miller
(Re)Soundings Internet Addresses:
Department of English resound@marauder.millersv.edu
Millersville University Phone: (717) 872-3069
Millersville, Pennsylvania 17551 FAX: (717)871-2446
To view (re)soundings volume one issue one, or for further information,
see http://www.millersv.edu/~resound