A Common Stage : Theater and Public Life in Medieval Arras / Carol Symes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Symes, Carol, author.

Series:

Conjunctions of religion & power in the medieval past.

Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Theater--France--Arras--History--Medieval, 500-1500.

Theater.

Theater and society--France--Arras--History--To 1500.

Theater and society.

French drama--To 1500--History and criticism.

French drama.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (357 pages).

Other Title:

Theater and public life in medieval Arras

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Medieval Arras was a thriving town on the frontier between the kingdom of France and the county of Flanders, and home to Europe's earliest surviving vernacular plays: The Play of St. Nicholas, The Courtly Lad of Arras, The Boy and the Blind Man, The Play of the Bower, and The Play about Robin and about Marion.In A Common Stage, Carol Symes undertakes a cultural archeology of these artifacts, analyzing the processes by which a handful of entertainments were conceived, transmitted, received, and recorded during the thirteenth century. She then places the resulting scripts alongside other documented performances with which plays shared a common space and vocabulary: the crying of news, publication of law, preaching of sermons, telling of stories, celebration of liturgies, and arrangement of civic spectacles. She thereby shows how groups and individuals gained access to various means of publicity, participated in public life, and shaped public opinion. And she reveals that the theater of the Middle Ages was not merely a mirror of society but a social and political sphere, a vital site for the exchange of information and ideas, and a vibrant medium for debate, deliberation, and dispute.The result is a book that closes the gap between the scattered textual remnants of medieval drama and the culture of performance from which that drama emerged. A Common Stage thus challenges the prevalent understanding of theater history while offering the first comprehensive history of a community often credited with the invention of French as a powerful literary language.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ON TERMINOLOGY AND TRANSLATION

ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION. LOCATING A MEDIEVAL THEATER

CHAPTER ONE. A HISTORY PLAY: THE JEU DE SAINT NICOLAS AND THE WORLD OF ARRAS

CHAPTER TWO. PRODIGALS AND JONGLEURS: INITIATIVE AND AGENCY IN A THEATER TOWN

CHAPTER THREE. ACCESS TO THE MEDIA: PUBLICITY, PARTICIPATION, AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE

CHAPTER FOUR. RELICS AND RITES: "THE PLAY OF THE BOWER" AND OTHER PLAYS

CHAPTER FIVE. LIVES IN THE THEATER

CONCLUSION. ON LOOKING INTO A MEDIEVAL THEATER

APPENDIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-316) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 25. Sep 2019)

ISBN:

9781501726613

1501726617

OCLC:

1132226788