BBNAN13100 Medieval English Drama and Theatre
BBNAN 13100 (BBNAN 03100): ELECTIVE LECTURE COURSE – MEDIEVAL ENGLISH DRAMA AND THEATRE
WED 10.15-11.45, STE SÍK SÁNDOR
LECTURER: KARÁTH TAMÁS (tamas.karath@gmail.com)
OFFICE HOURS: WED 11.45-12.30, THU 11.45-12.30
Welcome to the lecture on medieval English drama and theatre. The lecture series will
introduce you to more than 500 years of theatre history and stage plays in England, from the
first records of liturgical plays in the 10th century to the giant open-air performances
organized by town guilds in the 15th and early 16th centuries. The visual support, excerpts
from modern reconstructions of the medieval plays and the in-class discussion of a few
dramatic texts will help us to reproduce the atmosphere of the medieval stage.
Requirements
The lecture will be concluded by an oral exam, for which registration is obligatory in Neptun.
For the exam, you are required to read the assigned readings (mostly primary texts) and
prepare a 10-minute presentation for each of the exam topics. (You will pick only one at the
exam.) The rules of the presentation are the same as those of the final exam presentation,
which you may find here in Hungarian:
http://btk.ppke.hu/uploads/articles/8780/file/BA-z%C3%A1r%C3%B3vizsgat%C3%A9telekirodalom.1-10.pdf
A quick guide in English for the exam:
- Read all the assigned readings.
- Choose at least 3 relevant texts for each topic.
- Your 10-minute presentation should be a carefully constructed “speech” with introduction
(ca. 2 min, containing the description of your topic, a clearly stated thesis, and the
justification of the pieces you have selected for the topic); discussion of the pieces selected
(ca. 6 min, with a textual and thorough-going analysis of the works) and a conclusion (ca. 2
min). After your talk, you will have to answer a few questions related to your presentation
and to the other readings you have not mentioned in your speech. The list of assigned
readings and exam topics follow after the course calendar.
Course calendar
12 Feb – A dramatic encounter with medieval literature: Contexts for drama and stage; a
survey of the variety of texts and performing traditions in medieval England
19 Feb – Liturgy and drama
26 Feb – The non-liturgical and non-classical heritage of the medieval stage; folk traditions,
minstrels and mummers: Dame Sirith
5 March – The medieval English cycle plays. Salvation history 1: The Chester Fall of Lucifer
and Adam and Eve, The York Fall of Man and the Last Judgment
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BBNAN13100 Medieval English Drama and Theatre
12 March – Salvation history 2 - Old Testament Plays: The Chester Noah, Abraham and Isaac
19 March – Salvation history 3 - Nativity Plays: Wakefield Second Shepherd’s Play, The NTown Mary Plays (Trial of Mary and Joseph and the Nativity)
26 March – Salvation history 4 - The Passion and the Resurrection: The York Dream of
Pilate’s Wife, Crucifixion, and Resurrection
2 April – Guest lecture
9 April – Modern reconstructions of the medieval mysteries
16 April – Spring break
23 April – Spring break
30 April – Repenting women: The N-Town Woman Taken in Adultery and the Digby Mary
Magdalene
7 May – Moralities: Everyman and Mankind
14 May – Miracles: The Croxton Play of the Sacrament
Assigned (obligatory) readings for the exam
Primary texts
(1) From the Chester Mystery Cycle (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/chester/):
The Fall of Lucifer (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/chester/chester1.pdf)
Adam and Eve (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/chester/chester2.pdf)
Noah’s Flood, lines 1-375) (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/chester/chester4.pdf)
The Sacrifice of Isaac, lines 1-268 (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/chester/chester5.pdf)
(2) From the N-Town Cycle (http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ajohnsto/frntmt.html):
The Parliament of Heaven and the Annunciation
(http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ajohnsto/annuncia.html)
The Trial of Mary and Joseph (http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ajohnsto/trial.html)
The Nativity (http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ajohnsto/birth.html)
The Woman Taken in Adultery (http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ajohnsto/adultery.html)
(3) From the Wakefield Cycle
The Second Shepherd’s Play
(http://lrc.surcollege.net/courses/World%20Literature%20Lectures/The%20Second%20S
hepherd%20Play%20EText.pdf OR http://www.calvin.edu/academic/engl/215/ssp.htm)
(4) From the York Cycle (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/yorkplays/york.html)
The Fall of Man (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/yorkplays/York05.html)
The Dream of Pilate’s Wife (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/yorkplays/York30.html)
The Crucifixion (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/yorkplays/York35.html)
The Resurrection (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/yorkplays/York38.html)
The Last Judgment (http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/yorkplays/York47.html)
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BBNAN13100 Medieval English Drama and Theatre
(5) Non-Cycle Plays
Dame Sirith (http://www.unc.edu/~jwittig/51/sirith.htm)
Everyman (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/everyman.asp)
OR
Mankind (http://research.uvu.edu/mcdonald/3610/mankind.html)
The Croxton Play of the Sacrament
(http://machias.edu/faculty/necastro/drama/comedy/sacrament.html
with an explanatory trot on:
http://www.medievallit.org/course_materials/ltwl172_sp2010/croxtontranslation.htm)
Secondary literature
Normington, Katie. Medieval English Drama: Performance and Spectatorship. Cambridge:
Polity Press, 2009
Further (suggested) readings
Beadle, Richard, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1995. (Faculty Library shelf-marks: 236:222 (1) and 254:121)
Cawley, A. C., ed. Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays. Everyman, 1959 and 1999. (Faculty
Library shelf-marks: 254:509 (1) and 266:502)
Happé, Peter. “Introduction” in English Mystery Plays: A Selection. Ed. by Peter Happé.
Penguin Books, 1975. (Faculty Library shelf-mark: 313:405)
Topics for the exam
(1) The comic in medieval English plays
(2) Setting in medieval English plays
(3) History in medieval English plays
(4) Initiations in medieval English plays
(5) Community and the individual in medieval English plays
(6) Death in medieval English plays
(7) Aggression and cruelty in medieval English plays
(8) Love in medieval English plays
(9) Marriage in medieval English plays
(10) Salvation and damnation in medieval English plays
Good luck for the course!
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