theater-msg - 2/12/12

Period theater. SCA re-creations.

NOTE: See also the files: theater-bib, puppets-msg, jesters-msg, bardic-msg, juggling-msg, story-sources-msg, masks-msg.

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From: perkins at msupa.pa.msu.EDU ("corpusculorum velocium perexiguorum
Date: 24 Jul 91 06:20:01 GMT

Jeremy de Merstone greets the folk of the Rialto, and adds to the
discussion of the lives and roles of players in period times the name
of a reference which may be of interest to the serious researcher:

_The_Theatre_in_the_Middle_Ages_, by William Tydeman, Cambridge University
Press, 1978.  Lib of Cong code PN2152.T9; Dewey Dec Sys 792.0902; ISBN #s:
hardcover 0 521 21891 8, paperback 0 521 29304 9.

It's clearly written,  extensively discusses many aspects of the topic 
(including a chapter called "The Performers", the tie-in to this thread) 
and has a good bibliography of other reference material on the subject.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 Jeremy de Merstone       George J Perkins    perkins at msupa.pa.msu.edu
 North Woods, MidRealm    East Lansing, MI    perkins at msupa (Bitnet)
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------


From: KGANDEK at mitvmc.mit.EDU (Kathryn Gandek)
Date: 25 Jul 91 21:28:07 GMT

My two favorite medieval theatre books have now both been mentioned as
sources by other people.  However, I'll go ahead and add my two cents.

_The_Medieval_Theatre_ by Glynne Wickham (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987)
is a very good book for providing a comprehensive and logically organized
overview of theatre.  He explains where it comes from, how it developed,
includes theatrical activities that might not meet the 20th century definition
of theatre, and defines all of it well.  What is particularly excellent about
this book is the way he organizes the information.  It is particularly clear
and well thought out--a vey good approach for a reader who has only a little
background.  His lack of numerous quotes and specific examples helps this,
although it also is a deficiency if the reader is trying to do serious research
Also, Wickham esposes his theories as almost facts, and there are scholars who
have very viable and very counter theories.

_The_Theatre_in_the_Middle_Ages by William Tydeman (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1978)
Tydeman organizes his informantion in a way that I suspect will be a bit
confusing for someone looking for a general introduction.  It is full of many
more quotes, examples and exceptions.  It's a good next level up book.  One of
his sections is on "The Players", and it's a good example of Tydeman's style.
If you're looking for a general statement on the status of players, you won't
find it.  If you would like numerous examples of their different permeutations
through the Middle Ages, then it's a great read.

To add two more names:

_Early_English_Stages_ by Glynne Wickham (3 volumes, 4 books published in
England and the US over a variety of dates)
If you're interested in specific and detailed information about theatre history
in England (although he occassionally overlaps into other countries) this is
great!  It's detailed, scholarly, crammed full with information and
prohibitively expensive even if you could find a full set for sale some place.
(If you do, let me know :-)  Try a library.

_The_Mediaeval_Stage_ by E.K. Chambers (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903) (Two
volumes)
This is a classic.  Sure a lot of the theories are outdated, but the
information is great.  To paraphrase a dance historian I know, it's just one of
those things that you've got to have in your library.  Columbia University
Press did a reprint sometime in the last ten years or so, but it's sold out.
This book has got direct quotes (there's so much Latin!) and complete, uncut
looonnngg passages and I found it indispensible when trying to recreate
mummings.  One volume is Chambers' prose (with of course quotes from primary
sources) and the second volume is just primary sources reprinted.

For information on players, try the section in Tydeman.  Reading all of
Wickham wouldn't hurt :-)  And Brockett (which Heather gave the info for) is
always a good overview.

Catrin o'r Rhyd For              Kathryn Gandek
Barony of Carolingia             Boston area
East Kingdom                     kgandek%mitvmc.bitnet at mitvma.mit.edu


Newsgroups: rec.music.early,rec.org.sca,rec.arts.dance
From: dfader at leland.Stanford.EDU (Donald James Fader)
Subject: Re: Q: ballo choreographies
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 20:55:22 GMT

Concerning the request for information about choreography in balli at
the Medici court c.1600:

As far as I know (and I've done a little research on this question), no
such choreographies exist.  The Italians were not so painstaking as the
French were in their notation of dance steps.  You can find information
about dance in the Medici courts from various indirect sources, however.

A major piece of archival work on musical and theatrical happenings at
the Medici court is:

Solerti, Angelo.  Musica, Ballo e Drammatica alla Corte Medicea dal 1600
al 1637.  (1905--sorry I don't have the publisher handy)

This organizes the records of the court by year and gives large-scale quotes
of source material pertaining to music and dance.

A somewhat more recent article about the subject:

Ghisi, Francesco.  "Ballet entertainments in the Pitti Palace, Florence, 1608-
25."  Musical Quarterly 35(1949): 421

See also Groves "Ballo", "Balletto"

A general idea about choreography can be had from 2 period dance manuals:

Caroso, Fabritio.  Nobilita [with accent] di dame (1600).  Ed and trans. by
Julia Sutton (NY: Ox U. Press, 1986).  (a reprinting of his Il Ballarino 
(1581)).

Negri, Cesare. Le Gratie Amore (1602), reprinted as Nuove Inventione di Balli 
(1604).

You may be able to find more about this in dance publications--this is what
I gleaned from a fairly quick survey of the field in musicological writings
in the process of working on something else.  Hope it is helpful.

Don Fader


From: HAROLD.FELD at hq.doe.GOV
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: *Good* dress up at Pennsic
Date: 24 Mar 1994 10:19:51 -0500

          Unto all who read these words, greetings from Yaakov.

          With all the comments about Vampires, etc., it should be
          recalled that there are good examples of period mummings
          that take place at Pennsic.

          A few examples over the years:

          1) The Fool's Parade held by Meriwald.  While there is much
          in it that resembles our Twentieth century 'Macy's Day'
          parade, I saw a fair number of Period satire/morality play
          done.  The Jesus, carrying the cross and being scourged by
          centurions, struck me as a wonderfully period piece.

          2) Catrin O'h Rhyrd For's mumming several years ago at
          Pennsic, based on a documented mumming from (I think)
          Richard II's coronation.  This was very elaborate, with
          over 50 participants (exact numbers escape me) and a host of
          costumes/props made by the ever-helpful and talented John
          McGuire of Carolingia (who will no doubt be commissioned on
          Judgment day to help through up the Throne at the last
          minute).

          3) The mock stag hunt that went through the Pennsic
          marketplace last year.  I'm not sure who arranged that one.

          4) Ditto the Japanese fertility rite.  (Although I'm less
          sanguine about non-Eurpoean stuff, it was a well documented
          recreation.)

          Yaakov


From: gray at cs.umass.edu (Lyle Gray)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: *Good* dress up at Pennsic
Date: 24 Mar 94 12:14:30
Organization: Dept of Comp and Info Sci, Univ of Mass (Amherst)

The stag hunt that Yaakov makes reference to was performed by a group from
Bergental, East Kingdom.  It recreates the Abbotts' Bromley Horn Dance of
England, which has been performed continuously from the medieval period (the
antlers used in England have been carbon-dated to some time in the 12th c.).

Lyle FitzWilliam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyle H. Gray                       Internet (personal): gray at cs.umass.edu
Quodata Corporation            Phone: (203) 728-6777, FAX: (203) 247-0249


From: dmeehan at HUEY.CSUN.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Theater
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 1994 07:24:28
Organization: Information Resources and Technology

silbrmnd at acf4.nyu.edu (The Dark Mage) writes:
>From: silbrmnd at acf4.nyu.edu (The Dark Mage)
>Subject: Period Theater
>Date: 1 Apr 1994 06:08:34 GMT

>Greetings to all who are gathered on this bridge...

>I have to write a paper for my Civ and Culture of hte Middle Ages class
>on "something that interests me", and I'm thinking of doing it on the
>history of theater in the middle ages...  I know it basically started in
>the church around the 11th or 12th c. with the mystery plays, and I know
>that by the end of (SCA) period you had the Commedia dell' Arte, and
>Shakespeare was in the middle there...  Could someone out there point me
>towards some helpful (and interesting ;) sources?  The course is very
>eurocentric, and will probly only get up to around the 14th c... 

Try looking into 'the Chester Fair.'  this was a place in 13th cent. England 
where dramas were put on.  Look up Hildegaard of Bingen.  She wrote a 
morality play in the 11th cent.  called (I think) 'Novo Ordo Virtutum'.

That's all I know.  If I remember, I'll go home and find the phone number for 
someone in our Guild of St. Genisius - that't the medieval drama group here 
in Caid.

Good luck!

Damien of Baden
Altavia/Caid


From: laityna at ucbeh.san.uc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Medieval theatre sources
Date: 5 Apr 94 01:23:45 EST
Organization: Univ of Cincinnati Academic IT Services

A good book about the Commedia del'Arte is called "The Italian Comedy" and is
published by Dover Books.  I don't know who the author is, but it is a large,
illustrated orange book.  Another interesting Dover book is "A Source Book of
Theatrical History" by Nagler.  It is a collection of extant essays about the
theatre from the Greeks on.  I don't remember how much medieval stuff is in it,
but it is full of "the real thing".

Tangwystel vyrgh Gwythenek


From: kathy.duffy at buckys.com (Kathy Duffy)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Early plays
Date: Wed,  9 Nov 1994 12:41:00 GMT
Organization: *Bucky's BBS* (609)861-1131

There are some plays by Roswitha or Hrovithia (same person) written in a
German (before it was Germany) convent to amuse the byzantine princess
of Otto (I or II).  Several of them could be easily performed. Our
library had a book containing a collection of them in a series of small
green books called the "Medieval Library" [the series name] and
published by Cooper Union Press [I believe but memory by be faulty
there] around 1966.  If you need more precise bibliographic date send a
private e-mail and I will check at work.

Lady Deirdre Ui Mhaille
EK, Shire of Barren Sands


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: kgandek at world.std.com (Kathryn GandekTighe)
Subject: Re: Research Question -- Stage scenery
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Fri, 4 Aug 1995 17:10:08 GMT

STEWART (ms7539 at conrad.appstate.EDU) wrote:
:         Currently, I am researching period techniques for stage
:         scenery and presentation... 
:         Secifically I am looking to documemt what is modernly known
:         as the stage 'flat'... A wooden frame covered in canvas that
:         is painted...

:         For the middle ages I am reading through the works of several
:         Italian designers and architects of the 16th century... 

:         Can anyone point out something that I may have overlooked? 
:         Research on the first Globe, and the Swan have shown that much of
:         the Elizabethan stage was bare...  But what about when the
:         Globe was rebuilt? 
:  
:         Direction to resources, titles and authors will be greatly
:         appreciated...  I'd rather not reinvent the wheel... 

Some books you might find useful:

The Elizabethan Stage by E.K. Chambers - specifically, you want to look at
Volume III, which includes a hefty section on Staging at Court, Staging in
the Theatres of the Sixteenth Century, and Staging of the Theatres in the
Seventeenth Century.  One warning though - while Chambers' works are
classics on the subject of period theater and contain great material
directly quoted from period sources, some of his theories are now out of
date.  I love to use them for their direct quotes of material; I always 
check more current sources regarding theory.

The set I have was printed in Oxford by Clarendon Press in 1965 and are a
reprint of the originals printed in 1923.  Chambers volumns entitled The 
Mediaeval Stage (also classics) were reprinted by Columbia more recently, 
so they may also have reprinted The Elizabethan Stage.  There is not a 
section in The Mediaeval Stage specifically on staging, although you 
could look through it.  Since I've used it primarily when researching 
mummings, I can't recall reading anything about backdrops.

Glynne Wickham wrote a very comprehensive series entitled Early English
Stages 1300 to 1660.  Much to my regret, I only own Volume III, Plays and
their Makers, so I can't tell you where to look in the series.  However,
I've always found an answer to my questions when I drool over them in one
of the local academic libraries.  They are very academic, and you'll
probably have to go to a college library to find them.  (For Chambers'
books you just need an old library :-)  I'd happily pay for the other
books in the Wickahm set if I could ever get my hands on them.  They're 
real gems.

If you can't find Early English Stages, you could try Wickham's The 
Medieval Theatre (my copy is Cambridge University Press 1988).  It's more 
general, but still could be useful.

If you have access to it, it wouldn't hurt to take a quick look at William
Tydeman's The Theatre in the Middle Ages.  It's a general survey book, but
I've found useful bits in it.  A quick glance at my copy makes me think
you could find some details in there.  My copy was printed by Cambridge
University Press in 1988.  There used to be someone selling copies of it
at Pennsic. 

Catrin o'r Rhyd For
Kathryn Gandek-Tighe
Carolingia, East Kingdom
kgandek at world.std.com


From: IVANOR at delphi.com
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Research Question -- Stage scenery
Date: 6 Aug 1995 00:18:25 GMT

Quoting ms7539 from a message in rec.org.sca
   >From: ms7539 at conrad.appstate.EDU (STEWART)
   >Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
   >Subject: Research Question -- Stage scenery
   >Date: 3 Aug 1995 15:08:14 -0400

   >Currently, I am researching period techniques for stage
   >scenery and presentation...
   >Secifically I am looking to documemt what is modernly known
   >as the stage 'flat'... A wooden frame covered in canvas that
   >is painted...
   >I already have documentation on the pinake, a stage 'flat'
   >which was used in ancient Greek theater...  and I have info.
   >on the Italian baroque period.
   >For the middle ages I am reading through the works of several
   >Italian designers and architects of the 16th century...

That's late Renaissance, not medieval.

As much Medieval drama was done on wagons, with a different wagon for each
scene, they didn't need flats... if they wanted scenery, they made permanent
sets.  Theatres were revived in the Renaissance.

Hunningher, in _The Origin of the Theater_ refers doubters to Loomis, Roger
S., "Were there Theatres in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries?" with
comm. by Gustave Cohen, _Speculum_, 1945,XX,1; under the same title denied
by Dino Bigongiari in _Romantic Review_, Oct. 1946.

There was an excellent CA a couple of years ago about Medieval drama and its
presentation, complete with illustrations of the stage wagons.

Carolyn Boselli, Host of Custom Forum 35, SCAdians on Delphi


From: liversen at physiology.medsch.ucla.edu (Lori Iversen)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Theatre History--Elizabethan era question
Date: 10 Jan 1996 17:14:43 GMT
Organization: UCLA

slsbc at cc.usu.edu says:
>I would appreciate any and all information regarding the
>history of the theatre in this time period, and not just English theatre. My
>teacher is emphasizing more of the buildings/architecture and effects from this
>time period and things of a similiar nature.
>                        Hopefully yours,
>                                ALIX of Cote du Ciel

I recall reading in an L.A. Times article several years ago that the
guys who are excavating the original Old Globe site knew they'd finally
found the right place because mixed in with the foundation were piles
of filbert shells!  Evidently, Elizabethan theatergoers scarfed filberts
in much the same way that modern cinemagoers scarf popcorn.  I would
have thought that the sound of all that hammering and shell cracking
would distract the players...

And that is the Jeopardy trivia ("I'll take Elizabethan theater for
500, Alex") for today.

-- Alexis,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Round up the usual disclaimers.      <liversen at physiology.medsch.ucla.edu>


From: besears560 at aol.com (Besears560)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Theatre History--Elizabethan era question
Date: 11 Jan 1996 23:42:38 -0500

yi-time magazine just did an article on the reconstructed globe theater.
                                    barre fitzrobert of york
                                    dragonsspine


From: kkozmins at mtholyoke.edu (Kim C Kozminski)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Theatre History--Elizabethan era question
Date: 12 Jan 1996 18:57:37 GMT
Organization: Mount Holyoke College

	The two favorites of most Theatre departments are Oscar 
Brockett's  History of the Theatre and AM Nagler's "A source-book in 
Theatrical History"  You can probably find second-hand copies at any 
college book-store were Theatre history is taught, or check you local 
library.
	Have fun!
		Roen


Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 11:29:29 -0600
From: "I. Marc Carlson" <LIB_IMC at centum.utulsa.edu>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: RE: Theatre

<Mary Haselbauer <slaine at stlnet.com>>
>Anyway, my question is three fold.
>1. Could someone suggest a book of plays by people other than
>Shakespeare or Marlowe

THere are a number of them out there (usually under titles like Elizabethan
Drama).  You might try such authors as Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker (His "The
Shoemaker's Holiday" is a person favorite), Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher,
John Webster, Philip Massinger, Nicholas Udal, Thomas Norton (another favorite),
George Gascoign, Thomas Preston, George Peele, Robert Greene, John Lyly,
Thomas Kyd, Thomas Heywood, John Marston, George Chapman, and so on.

If you can not find ANYTHING in your local library  listing these names,
contact me offlist and I'll see if I can't dig you up something for you to
Interlibrary Loan or purchase.

>2. Please share any experiences with producing plays for SCA.
...

Marc/Diarmaid


Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 17:46:32 EST
From: <BastetKat at aol.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Theatre

slaine at stlnet.com writes:
>1. Could someone suggest a book of plays by people other than
>Shakespeare or Marlowe
>
>  2. Please share any experiences with producing plays for SCA.
>
>  3. I would be interested to see any plays written by SCA folk.

     Item #1 has already been answered, but I couldn't resist adding these
names: Catharine Trotter, Aphra Behn, Delariviere Manley, and Mary Pix. Yes,
there were female playwrights! (Although they do fall towards the latter half
of the 17th century). But I also have some SCA theatre experience to share.

     Our shire formed a group of players that wrote and performed original
works based on period themes. Our style was a little like the Commedia Del
Arte, in that performers were free to "ad lib" based on audience reactions,
and stock characters reappeared in different plays. Themes generally revolved
around mistaken identities, jealous husbands, and scheming daughters, etc.  We
performed at Pennsic years ago (anyone remember the Oldenfeld Players, at
Pennsic 19 or so?) Eventually, the individuals involved moved on and the
group dissolved.

Judith


Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 15:51:26 -0800
From: domus at juno.com (Kenneth J Mayer)
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Theatre

Can't help much with the first item, but I heartily recommend AVOIDING
*Ralph Roister Doister* by Nicholas Udall ... it's horrible.

>2. Please share any experiences with producing plays for SCA.

http://www.mindspring.com/~hirschv/gsplay/gstags.htm

>3. I would be interested to see any plays written by SCA folk.

Video tapes of the Golden Stag Players productions can be gotten by
contacting me -- check out the website above ... (The GS Players have
been doing plays in the West Kingdom for 7 years now ...)

Hirsch


Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 19:55:11 EST
From: <BastetKat at aol.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Theatre suggestions

jadeyale at hotmail.com writes:
> I have also been interested in getting together a theater group in my
>  Shire.  if anyone has any experience or suggestions this would be
>  wonderful!
>
>  Joia

     I think the first thing to do is decide on your script(s). You should
know what parts you need before assembling your troupe. If you all love it and
decide to perform regularly, it's important to keep in mind that everyone may
not get to perform in every play. Hold auditions if you can. Give the ones who
really, Really can't act work as stage hands (fetching props, being props,
etc.), or remind them that you also need an audience. Comedy is easier than
tragedy to do well. It's also more popular. If you have your heart set on
performing a great tragedy, it will be even more important to say "no" to bad
actors. I am mentioning saying "no" several times because it can be hard to do
so without hurting feelings, but bad performers will ruin the show. Certainly
we don't expect Broadway-type skill, but they need to be able to put _some_
feeling into it!

     Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Make sure everyone knows their lines, and
can project well. It's no fun to the people in the back if they can't hear. If
you are doing Commedia Del Arte, then memorizing lines is more optional, but
then the actors must be able to improvise.

     Get the autocrat to advertise the play in the flyer (assuming you are
performing at an event) to build up your audience. Actually, in my experience,
getting people to show up the first time is easy. After that, you may have
to work to keep them coming.

     It will take some work, but can be loads of fun for everyone. Keep
trying, and eventually you will succeed!

Judith


Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 11:05:03 -0500 (EST)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at tulgey.browser.net>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Theatre

On Wed, 6 Jan 1999, Kenneth J Mayer wrote:
> Can't help much with the first item, but I heartily recommend AVOIDING
> *Ralph Roister Doister* by Nicholas Udall ... it's horrible.

Yes! Tovah's group struggled manfully (and womanfully) with it, but it was
extremely difficult, not only because it is long, but it is difficult to
memorize and difficult to produce well.

A piece of advice from a former theatre tech geek: if you choose to
produce plays in the SCA, you must be willing to be a bitch/bastard about
memorizing lines, learning blocking, etc. I don't know why SCA directors
struggle so much with this, but they do. You have to remember that
community theatre directors force people to memorize and they keep coming
back anyway...

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa (Shire of Eisental; HERMS Cyclonus), mka Jennifer Heise
jenne at tulgey.browser.net


Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 17:11:49 -0800
From: domus at juno.com (Kenneth J Mayer)
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Theatre

"Jennifer Thompson" <jadeyale at hotmail.com> writes:
>Well, I'm definately not afraid of the work or stepping on toes (just a
>little of course!).  I'm a theater geek myself who loves directing. My
>only real concern is the (unfortuanatly) lack of help, actors, and time.
>But I know that just comes with the job. Thanks for the advise from all.

This is the hardest part, but ... keep trying. I recommend starting
small. That's how the GS Players got started -- some smaller plays and we
worked up to the larger productions we're doing now (we have 10+ actors
in a show, which is pretty good -- add a stage manager -- necessary at
that point and the director, and maybe some stage hands (if you're lucky
and/or need 'em) and things get pretty crazed. <G>)

All the work really does pan out -- the GSP have been together for over 7
years and we're still going strong ... and despite all the work, the
fatigue just before the show, etc., the performances have been up, and
the audience reactions have been great ...

Hirsch


Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 20:54:45 -0700
From: "James F. Johnson" <seumas at mind.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Medieval Times

Just a brief note concerning erroneous history when it comes to
entertainment. From my own history and anthropology studies, I came
across examples in the Middle Ages and Renaissance where the concept of
change in styles over historical eras did not exist. One late period
example is English theatre during the reign of Elizabeth I (Shakespeare
and contemporaries). There were two types of constume. Street wear
(basically, the mode of the day, if not their own personal clothes) used
for any contemporary plays (Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing,
Doctor Faust,) and 'ancient' dress, which was toga-like robes for plays
like Corialanus, Titus, Pericles, Julius Caesar). Basically, it was
generic "old" clothes. The assumption being _everybody_ wore those
clothes _back then_, and at some undetermined time, they started wearing
trunk hose and doublets. I'd say it is a fair guess to say that most
decent SCA clothiers know more about clothing in the high Middle Ages
than the folks did living only two hundred years later. 

The distinctions between 11th Century Moorish Spain, and 14th Century
Bavaria, and 16th Century London are lost on most 20th century folks.
Just not relevant to their lives, just to the historophiles like us. So
they are happy with Medieval Times as it is, and Medieval Times is happy
to provide it. 

Seumas


Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 08:38:26 +1300
From: Maggie Forest <maggie at forest.gen.nz>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Medieval Theatre?

Anna asked:
>I'm interested in Medieval and Rennaiscance theatre and I'm especially
>trying to find some short plays. Are there any on the Net? I'd also love to
>get some book recommendations :-)

Well, Machiavelli wrote a short and comedic play called 'the Mandrake
Root'. A good edition of his works should include it.

/maggie


Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 00:43:02 -0500 (EST)
From: <kvh2 at cornell.edu>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Medieval Theatre?

On Thu, 9 Nov 2000, Anna Troy wrote:
> I'm interested in Medieval and Rennaiscance theatre and I'm especially
> trying to find some short plays. Are there any on the Net? I'd also love to
> get some book recommendations :-)

Well, the third edition of the Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama (ed. 
W.B. Worthen) has a couple of good short plays from Medieval and 
Renaissance England.  The non-Shakespearean plays would include -- "The 
Wakefield Second Shepards' Pageant" (anonymous); "Everyman" (anonymous); 
and "Doctor Faustus" (Christopher Marlowe).

Kate H.


Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 12:27:17 -0800
From: Heather Rowe <liban at yellowhead16.net>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Medieval Theatre?

I have a copy of "Everyman and Other Medieval Miracle Plays".  I don't
remember who the editor is at the moment, and I've misplaced it on my
bookshelves, but it is a Penguin book, and contains several plays that I
haven't seen elsewhere.  I also have stage copies of a couple of other
miracle plays from the middle ages (we had a wierd director who decided to
do something that most people hadn't ever seen before).  I'm nor sure the
Penguin is still in print, but it's a very good book with references to
other sources in it.

Li Ban


Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 19:30:19 -0500
From: Carol Thomas <scbooks at neca.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Medieval Theatre?

The publisher is Everyman, appropriately enough, and it is in print at
$5.95.

>I have a copy of "Everyman and Other Medieval Miracle Plays".  I don't
>remember who the editor is at the moment, and I've misplaced it on my
>bookshelves, but it is a Penguin book, and contains several plays that I
>haven't seen elsewhere.

Carllein
Small Churl Books catalog: <http://www.neca.com/~scbooks/>


Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 09:35:10 -0500
From: "Erik Dutton" <edutton at carolina.rr.com>
To: <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: RE: Medieval Theatre? (long)

Following are the volumes I have, with bibliographic citation and content
listing. Parenthetical note following each play indicates the cycle it comes
from, or the author in the case of some of the very late plays.

Di vos incolumes custodiant,
Rhodri ap Hywel, OPE
House Andover, Barony of the Sacred Stone, Atlantia

--
"Early English Plays 900-1600", ed. Schweikert, H. C.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1928 (no ISBN)
Contents:
intro to the history of theatre, from Classical Greece to Elizabethan
Quem Quaeritis (liturgal trope)
Banns (Ludus Coventriae)
The Fall of Lucifer (Ludus Coventriae)
Noah (Wakefield)
Abraham and Isaac (Brome MS)
The Second Shepherds' Play (Wakefield)
The Judgment Day (York)
Everyman
Robin Hood and the Friar (folk play)
Saint George and the Dragon (Oxfordshire folk play)
Ralph Roister Doister (Nicholas Udall)
Gorboduc (Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton)
Endymion (John Lyly)
The Old Wives Tale (George Peele)
The Honorable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (Robert Greene)
The Spanish Tragedy (Thomas Kyd)
Tamburlaine the Great, parts I & II (Christopher Marlowe)
Doctor Faustus (Christopher Marlowe)
Every Man in His Humour (Ben Jonson)
The Shoemaker's Holiday (Thomas Dekker)

"Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays", ed. Cawley, A. C.
Everyman's Library #381 1956 (no ISBN) (published in England by Dent &
Dutton)
Contents:
The Creation; The Fall of Lucifer; The Creation of Adam and Eve (York
Pageant of the Cardmakers)
The Fall of Man (York Pageant of the Coopers)
Cain and Abel (N. Town Cycle)
Noah's Flood (The Chester Pageant of the Water-Leaders and Drawers in Dee)
Abraham and Isaac (Brome MS)
The Annunciation (Coventry Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors)
The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Pageant (Towneley Cycle)
Wakefield Pageant of Herod the Great (Towneley Cycle)
The Woman Taken in Adultery (N. Town Cycle)
The Crucifixion (York Pageant of the Pinners and Painters)
The Harrowing of Hell (Chester Pageant of the Cooks and Innkeepers)
The Resurrection (York Pageant of the Carpenters)
The Judgment (York Pageant of the Mercers)
Everyman
Death of Pilate (Cornish Trilogy)
Full listing of contents of the Chester, York and Towneley cycles

"Medieval Mysteries, Moralities and Interludes", ed. Hopper, V. F. and G. B.
Lahey
Barron's Educational Series, 1962 (no ISBN, LoC Catalog # 61-18362
Contents:
Abraham and Isaac (bible story followed by the Brome MS play)
Noah's Flood (bible story followed by the Chester play)
Second Shepherds' Play (story from Luke followed by the Wakefield play)
The Castle of Perseverance
Everyman
Johan Johan
the play called The Four PP
includes staging notes for several of the plays.

"English Mystery Plays", ed. HappÈ, Peter
Penguin English Library, 1975 ISBN 0 14 043.093 8
Contents:
The Fall of Lucifer (Chester)
The Creation, and Adam and Eve (Chester)
The Killing of Abel (Towneley)
Noah (Towneley)
Noah (Chester)
Abraham and Isaac (Chester)
Abraham and Isaac (Brome MS)
Moses (York)
Balaam, Balak and the Prophets (Chester)
The Parliament of Heaven, the Salutation and Conception (Ludus Coventriae)
Joseph (Ludus Coventriae)
The Nativity (Ludus Coventriae)
First Shepherds' Play (Towneley)
Second Shepherds' Play (Towneley)
Introduction to The Three Kings (York)
The Adoration (York)
The Flight Into Egypt (Towneley)
The Purification, and Christ With the Doctors (Chester)
The Death of Herod (Ludus Coventriae)
The Shearmen and the Tailors' Play (Coventry)
John the Baptist (York)
The Temptation of Christ, and the Woman Taken in Adultery (Chester)
Lazarus (Towneley)
Passion Play I: Council of the Jews; Last Supper; Betrayal (Ludus
Coventriae)
The Buffeting (Towneley)
The Dream of Pilate's Wife (York)
The Scourging (Towneley)
The Crucifixion (York)
The Death and Burial (York)
The Harrowing of Hell (York)
The Resurrection (Towneley)
Christ's Appearance to the Disciples (Ludus Coventriae)
The Ascension (Chester)
Pentecost (York)
The Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin (York)
Judgment Day (York)


Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 10:36:13 -0500 (EST)
From: <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: [SCA-AS] LIIWEEK: English Folk plays
To: <scalibrarians at topica.com>,	Arts and Sciences in the SCA
	<artssciences at lists.gallowglass.org>

Most of these are not documented to period, but mumming as a practice
definitely is:

(review from LIIWEEK:)

 English Folk Play Research Home Page
   This extensive resource focuses on English folk plays, also
   called Mummers' Plays, that are "short traditional verse
   sketches performed at Christmas, Easter and other annual
   festivals and taken round pubs and private houses." Find
   background, news, scheduled performances, research indexes
   and catalogs, scripts, reading lists, related links, and
   more. Searchable. From the Traditional Drama Research Group
   at the University of Sheffield.
   http://www.folkplay.info/

-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net


Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 16:05:17 -0600 (CST)
From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Subject: [SCA-AS] [Fwd: TMR 07.10.30 Streitman and Happe,	Urban
	Theatre (Symes)]
To: "East Kingdom A&S List" <EK_AnS at yahoogroups.com>,	"Arts and
	Sciences in the SCA" <artssciences at lists.gallowglass.org>

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: TMR 07.10.30 Streitman and Happe, Urban Theatre (Symes)
From:    "The Medieval Review" <tmrl at indiana.edu>
Date:    Mon, October 29, 2007 8:08 am
To:      tmr-l at indiana.edu
        bmr-l at brynmawr.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Streitman, Elsa and Peter Happe, eds. <i>Urban Theatre in the Low
Countries, 1400-1625</i>. Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern
Europe, 12. Turnhout: Brepols, 2006. Pp. xii, 320. &#8364;70.00. ISBN:
9782503517005.

   Reviewed by Carol Symes
        Department of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-
        Champaign
        symes at uiuc.edu


The essays gathered in this volume make an important contribution to
the related studies of theater and urban life. Many open windows onto
a world in which scripted drama was only one manifestation of a
culture that was inherently performative and representational, and the
cumulative effect of this scholarship (some of which has never been
accessible in English before) is to demonstrate that the understanding
of plays and pageantry is inextricably bound up with the history of
communities and their modes of communication. Indeed, the very
richness of the Low Countries' historical record stands as a challenge
to conventional narratives of theater's history, which tend to reify
modern generic categories, national boundaries, and temporal
divisions. The mere fact that one cannot describe this region and
period using familiar geographic and historiographic terminology is
instructive. Readers whose knowledge of the Netherlands and its
theater has hitherto begun and ended with the Middle English
translation of <i>Elckerlijc</i> (<i>Everyman</i> ) will be
enlightened.

Although its editors assert that the book's "chronological scope is
extensive" (24), most essays deal with the role of Chambers of
Rhetoric (<i>rederijkerskameren</i>) in the production and publication
of plays over a century and a half, from the early sixteenth to the
mid-seventeenth centuries. This period certainly deserves close
attention, but the editors' suggestion that it can be taken as
normative is problematic, for it conveys the misleading impression
that there was little theatrical activity in the region earlier on,
and that only four surviving antecedents of early modern drama deserve
consideration (Lille's annual procession on Trinity Sunday, first
attested in 1270; the so-called Maastricht or Ripuarian <i>Passion
Play</i> from the fourteenth century; and two surviving Marian
pageants from fifteenth-century Brusssels). On the one hand, this
narrow focus fails to account for the urban theater of cosmopolitan
Arras, which was producing and preserving a wide spectrum of
vernacular entertainments as early as the twelfth century and which
had a demonstrable impact on other towns in the region, notably
Bruges, Gent, Saint-Omer, Cambrai, Tournai, Valenciennes, Mons, and--
farther afield-&#8211;London and Paris. (Arras is firmly situated on the
book's excellent map but is mentioned only fleetingly in the text).[1]
On the other, it obscures the age-old connection between dramatic
formulae and the traditions of forensic and didactic rhetoric so ably
dissected by Jody Enders, whose <i>Rhetoric and the Origins of
Medieval Drama</i> (Ithaca, 1992) receives a lonely mention in a
single essay. The volume's implicit argument would have been more
forcefully advanced by a forthright acknowledgment that the Low
Countries' theatrical vocabulary had long been rooted in political,
social, and economic realities. As Galbert of Bruges observed in 1127,
the peaceful governance of Flanders not only fostered trade but led
its urbane inhabitants to devise "all manner of ingenious and studied
arguments," so that "it came about, in fact, that everyone became
proficient in rhetorical skills, some by diligent study and some by
nature." [2]

The book is divided into five sections. The first, "Precursors," opens
with Carla Dauven-van Knippenberg's "Borderline Texts: The Case of the
<i>Maastricht (Ripuarian) Passion Play </i>." The text under
reconsideration (Den Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek 70 E 5, fols.
233v-247v) furnishes a wonderful illustration of the chauvinistic
contortions performed by modern academics at the expense of medieval
artifacts: probably not from Maastricht, possibly not a Passion play,
and only partially scripted in the Ripuarian dialect of the Lower
Rhine. Assigned by nineteenth-century Dutch philologists to Germany
(specifically Cologne) and by German philologists to the Limburger
town of Maastricht in the Netherlands, it has since been firmly
replaced in its manuscript context by J. Peter Gumbert, who
demonstrated that the play was deliberately copied alongside a
collection of Middle Dutch homilies known as the <i>Limburgse
Sermoenen</i> in the early decades of the fourteenth century, and that
it also shares space with vernacular sermons and mystical writings
testifying to the influence of Hadewijch of Brabant (fl. c. 1250) and
Beatrijs of Nazareth (c. 1200-1263). The codex itself thus invites
renewed consideration of the play's participation in a contemporary
culture of vernacular piety. In addition, the political circumstances
of its composition can be teased out of the macaronic mixture of
German and Dutch elements, most strikingly apparent in the Middle
Dutch ballad sung by Mary Magdalene, which strongly resembles lyrics
composed by Duke Jan I of Brabant (c. 1254-94), the victor in the War
of the Limburg Succession (1280-1288). Hence, Dauven-van Knippenberg
theorizes that it may have been inserted into the play by German-
speaking supporters on the losing side, as a comment on the decadence
of the Brabantine court. Puzzlingly, however, she concludes that this
new understanding of the play's codicological and historical contexts
unfits it for study as drama--that somehow the fact that it is "not
just" a play must mean that it was not intended for performance (49).
That "we have no corresponding records of performance" and that "the
manuscript shows no signs of having been used for performance" are
hardly damning proofs of antitheatricality, however; the same could be
said of nearly every extant play text prior to 1400. In this case, as
in so many others, one cannot expect medieval dramatic documents to
exhibit the characteristics "usual" in the scripts of later eras.

The other designated "precursor" of urban theater in the Dutch
vernacular is discussed by W.M.H. Hummelen in "<i>Pausa</i> and
<i>Selete</i> in the <i>Bliscapen</i>," with reference to the first
and last installments of what was originally a seven-year dramatic
cycle celebrating the Seven Joys (<i>bliscapen</i>) of Mary,
inaugurated in Brussels in 1448 and performed by the Archers' Guild in
the Grote Markt after a festive procession held annually in honor of
the Virgin. Hummelen mines the texts of these two plays (first
"discovered" in 1962 and 1882, respectively) for insights into the
meaning of two seminal terms which occur very frequently in later
scripts, and performs a clever analysis of the directorial
interventions added to the rubrics of one original manuscript. He
concludes that <i>selete</i> was used to designate occasions when
singing alone was called for, while <i>pausa</i> indicated a need for
instrumental music--as distinct from occasions when stage directions
call indiscriminately for either one or the other, or both. He also
stresses the fact that all of these musical interludes would have been
executed <i>ad libitum</i>, with only occasional descriptors guiding
musicians or metteurs-en-sc&#232;ne in the selection of appropriately
"beautiful" or "joyous" material. His careful use of textual sources
shows how conventions changed over time, and calls attention to the
important fact that much of what we would like to know about medieval
staging practices was never written down.

The first article in section two, "Politics and Religion," is Gary K.
Waite's "Rhetoricians and Religious Compromise during the Early
Reformation (c. 1520-1555)," a satisfying account of the methods used
by <i>rederijkers factors</i> (the playwrights of the Chambers of
Rhetoric) to help "their lay contemporaries understand the issues"
that were being hotly debated--and occasionally more hotly punished--
in the first decades of the Reformation. He argues, compellingly, that
these influential dramatists, who were often "lay experts on
religion," used the public sphere of their late-medieval towns to
present ideas and doctrines tailored "to fit the unique culture and
economy of the urban landscape of the Low Countries" (79-80). The
result was an array of subtle plays that facilitated debate within
communities where "political peace, economic growth, and religious
tolerance ranked at least as highly as the call for religious change"
(102). He suggests, indeed, that the influential reformer David Joris
was nurtured within the thriving Rhetoricians culture of Bruges, where
his father had been an actor, and that he brought that tradition of
composition and performance with him to Antwerp and to his theological
writings. Here is an essay that exemplifies how much a deep
contextualization of dramatic fictions can reveal about reality.

Complementing Waite's study is Wim Husken's "'Heresy' in the Plays of
the Dutch Rhetoricians," which also emphasizes the eclecticism of
Dutch reform movements. It reveals that Rhetoricians reacted
creatively and courageously to the increasingly strident but largely
ineffectual attempts to ban their activities, which culminated in the
official prohibition of 26 January 1560 and which may have spurred
even more subversive performances. Examining the scripts made
available in print prior to that date, Husken inventories some of the
techniques used by playwrights to express controversial opinions even
in this relatively regulated medium, concentrating on accusations of
'heresy' that can actually be read as referring to representatives of
the Church and not (as has been assumed) to Protestant reformers. He
thereby calls for closer and more sophisticated readings of the
surviving texts, which may reveal even more powerful strains of
religious dissent than have hitherto been uncovered &#8211; and which may
have befuddled contemporary censors as well as modern scholars.

In the lead essay of section three, "Literary Traditions of
Rhetoricians Plays," Bart Ramakers offers a radical re-assessment of
what allegorical drama was, how it functioned, and how it was received
by contemporaries. In "Dutch Allegorical Theater: Tradition and
Conceptual Approach," he questions some fundamental assumptions about
medieval dramatic genres, which (he rightly asserts) cannot be
understood as separate from the genres of public oratory and
argumentation, notably preaching and disputation (it is he who cites
Enders). As he points out, all are based on monologue and dialogue,
the building blocks of "everything that is said on stage"--and, for
that matter, in real life (128, 133). Furthermore, allegory's visual
impact must also be understood in terms of public display. In short,
Ramakers argues against the stubborn notion that allegory is
essentially a lesser form of dramatic representation, both less
immediate and less theatrical. He makes a passionate case for the
intellectual demands and payoffs of allegory--for playwrights, actors,
and audiences--and for its place in the "public oratory of the town."

The remaining two essays in this section are devoted to drama's
literary relationships. Peter Happe's "Pyramus and Thisbe:
Rhetoricians and Shakespeare" compares and contrasts the treatment of
Ovid's story as lampooned in Shakespeare's <i>A Midsummer Night's
Dream</i> (first printed in quarto in 1600) and as moralized in two
earlier Dutch plays: the <i>spel van sinnen</i> performed by the
Haarlem Rhetoricians around 1518 (extant in their manuscript
collection of plays) and the illustrated <i>Pyramus ende Thisbe</i>
first printed at Antwerp around 1520 (and reprinted at Gent in 1573
and at Rotterdam in 1612 and 1616). Happe shows how the Dutch
playwrights of the sixteenth century expanded on both classical and
Christian treatments in strikingly different ways and, in turn, shows
that Shakespeare's more famous version of the story is part of a long
tradition--as are his play's performers. Elsa Streitman's "God, Gods,
Humans and <i>Sinnekens</i> in Classical Rhetoricians Plays" further
demonstrates that many Dutch playwrights were experimenting with
Christian interpretations of classical material, using humanist-
inflected allegory in ways that bear direct comparison to contemporary
English dramas like John Heywood's <i>The Play of the Weather<\> or
John Redford's <i>Wit and Science</i>. Clearly, further comparison of
the urban theaters that flourished in England and the Low Countries
during this period could reveal some surprising links and borrowings,
fostered by shared commerce and shared political objectives and
increasingly facilitated by shared printing presses.

The fourth section of the book, "Urban Dramatic Culture," features
articles by three prominent Anglophone scholars of Continental
medieval drama. Alan Knight's "Guild Pageants and Urban Stability in
Lille," the fruit of many years' research in the archives of that
border town, provides a much-needed perspective on the development of
urban theatrical traditions over a relatively <i>longue duree</i>.
"Rhetoricians and the Drama: The Francophone Tradition," by the late
Lynette R. Muir, is a fitting testament to its author's lifelong
engagement with the drama of French-speaking lands, and brings
together some of the scattered evidence for the composition,
organization, and production of late-medieval plays. In "Worthy Women
of the Old Testament: The Ambachtsvrouwen of the <i>Leuven
Ommegang</i>," Meg Twycross looks closely at the extraordinary
cavalcade performed annually at Leuven on the Feast of the Nativity of
the Virgin (8 September) and recorded for posterity in the local
history of Willem Boonen in 1593-94. Working from Boonen's description
and drawings of this remarkable event, which featured thirty-four Old
Testament heroines and their entourages on horseback, Twycross
explains how spectators were "enticed into a mode of interactive
reading" which invited them to "crack" the code of its riddling
iconography (238).

The final section, "Performance and Material Culture," consist of two
essays: "Accommodation and Possessions of Chambers of Rhetoric in the
Province of Holland" by Th. C. J. van der Heijden and F.C. van
Boheemen, and Femke Kramer's "Producing Late Medieval Dutch Plays
Today." The former surveys what can be known about the actual chambers
in which Rhetoricians met, the furnishings of those rooms, and the
other properties they contained. (In addition to printed and
manuscript collections of plays, many groups owned Bibles and works of
history, both vernacular and Latin. Somewhat surprisingly, the Latin
translation of Josephus's <i>Jewish Wars</i> appears to have been a
staple reference.) The latter surveys recent productions of medieval
Dutch plays.

Overall, this valuable collection of essays is not well served by its
introduction, as I have already indicated. Given its intended
audience, it should have attempted to define Dutch terms with
accuracy; for example, <i>factor</i> would be more faithfully rendered
"wright" or "playwright" than "official poet" (15); and <i>spelen van
sinne</i> are not the same as English "moralities" (16), as Waite
(101) and Ramakers (133-134) show. The introduction should also have
explained what the Chambers of Rhetoric were, how they came into
being, and how they governed themselves (the few sentences on page 12
are too brief and too sketchy to be helpful). Instead, it consists
largely of an "Historical Prologue," featuring an inadequate and
confused summary of high politics and religious debates in a place and
time where, admittedly, politics and religion were notoriously
complicated. And it makes several troubling assertions about the
relationship of plays in performance to plays in manuscript, and about
the relationship of dramatists to the printed publication of their
works, repeating canards (e.g. "The Reformation was predicated upon
the spread of print," 13) that have been challenged by many scholars,
including some of the volume's own contributors. It would have been
better to have used this space to deal thoughtfully with the larger
questions raised by a book for which the editors otherwise deserve
praise. These questions are important: the very "nature of the drama
produced by this urban society" (9), the relationship between what was
written down and what was performed, the reception of plays in
production and in print, the interaction between theater and lived
reality, the effects of entertainment on public policy (and vice
versa), the shared techniques and ambitions of both dramatic and
political actors. Happily, English-speaking scholars interested in
such questions now have access to an urban milieu that is both similar
to that of neighboring territories and strikingly distinctive: in its
social porousness, its political indeterminacy, its spiritual
diversity, its susceptibility to public opinion, and its resistance to
categorization.


NOTES

[1] Carol Symes, <i>A Common Stage: Theater and Public Life in
Medieval Arras.</i> Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2007.

[2] Galbert of Bruges, <i>De multro, traditione, et occisione gloriosi
Karoli comitis Flandriarum,</i> ed. Jeff Rider, Corpus Christianorum
continuatio medievalis, 131 (Turnhout, 1994), c. 1 (7). "Qua pacis
gratia legibus et justitiis sese regebant homines, omnia ingeniorum et
studiorum argumenta ad placita componentes ut in virtute et eloquentia
rhetoricae unusquisque se defensaret cum impetitus fuisset, vel cum
hostem impeteret qua colorum varietate oratorie fucatum deciperet.
Tunc vero habuit rhetorica sua exercitia et per industriam et per
naturam." A similar observation is made still earlier, in the
<i>Disputatio de rhetorica</i> attributed to Alcuin and dedicated to
Charlemagne (c. 794): see <i>The Rhetoric of Alcuin and
Charlemagne</i>, ed. Wilbur Samuel Howell (New York, 1965), 68-70 (cc.
2-3).
-- 
-- Jenne Heise / Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net


From: Dorcas or Jean <dorcas_jean at YAHOO.COM>
Date: November 25, 2009 10:02:01 AM CST
To: CALONTIR at listserv.unl.edu
Subject: [CALONTIR] Shakespeare-era archive goes online

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/nov/25/archive-shakespeare-goes-online?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

This link goes to an article in the Guardian, a British newspaper, about an archive of the papers of Elizabethan era theatre owner and entrepreneur Philip Henslowe, and his actor son-in-law Edward Alleyn.  In the article there is a link to the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project.  Oh, I guess I could put that link here, too.

http://www.henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/index.html

Dorcas

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	theater-msg	Page 21 of 21