Ateneo - UPO

The history of theatre and performance from the Middle Ages to the present day, with a specific focus on the theme ‘From medieval theatre to the Middle Ages on the contemporary stage and in contemporary public space’. A series of scenic and scenographic devices and medieval theatrical texts will be analysed, as well as the traces of medieval theatre on the contemporary stage and in contemporary performances, from revivals of medieval texts to costumed reconstructions, medieval festivals and other performance forms that show the fortune of a medieval and medievalist imaginary on the contemporary stage and in contemporary public space and culture.

Medievalism: Key Critical Concepts, a cura di Elizabeth Emery e Richard Utz, Brewer, 2017.
Medieval Theatre Performance: Actors, Dancers, Automata and Their Audiences, a cura di Philip Butterworth e Katie Normington, Brewer, 2017.
Renaissance du théâtre médiéval, Presses Universitaires de Louvain, 2013.
NB disponibile anche in Open Edition:
https://books.openedition.org/pucl/634
Visualizing Medieval Performance, a cura di Elina Gertsman, Routledge, 2008.
Storia del teatro. Le idee e le forme dello spettacolo dall’antichità a oggi, a cura di Luigi Allegri, Carocci, 2017.
Altri materiali saranno forniti a lezione

- Analysing textual, dramaturgical, actorial and scenic aspects of medieval and contemporary medievalist plays.
- Understanding how the transition from text to stage takes place and how the revival of mediaeval conventions and staging devices (circular or levelled scene, etc.) take place on the contemporary stage
- Critically analysing contemporary medievalist performances (parades, tournaments, falconry shows, etc.) by understanding their technical, emotional and commercial aspects
- Critically questioning the fortune of medieval imagery in contemporary times on the basis of economic, political-ideological, identitarian, artistic and heritage aspects

None

Lectures; textual and performance analysis activities

A paper of approximately 10 p., using at least 2 scientific sources, on a subject chosen by the student but to be agreed with the lecturer; within the same paper, the answers to 3 questions provided by the lecturer (maximum 3 p. for the 3 questions); 1 performance or show review to be produced during the semester (maximum 3 p.); the show or performance is chosen by the student but has to be agreed with the lecturer.

The first part of the course will focus on a comparative history of medieval theatre, especially on genres (comedy-farce, religious theatre, etc.) and on technical and scenographic aspects, with particular attention to forms of performance that are not strictly textual. In the second part of the course we will focus, again from a comparative perspective, on the presence of medieval and medievalist performative forms, texts and reconstructions on the contemporary stage, with a specific interest in the forms that medievalism takes in contemporary culture, performance and society.

- Reading a medieval and a medievalist theatre text in particular in its technical, performative, staging and acting aspects, as well as textual aspects.
- Critically questioning the forms of the ‘taste for the Middle Ages’ and the ‘dream of the Middle Ages’ so present in contemporary society.
- Understanding how the Middle Ages become the bearer of values, political and ideological demands, ecological stances, etc. in today's society and how the mediaeval filter acts as a catalyst for contemporary issues, with particular attention to the forms in which the Middle Ages are present in today’s performative forms.