La Jeu de la Feuillée

Performed by The Lords of Misrule

When: Wednesday 03 July, 18.30-19.30
Where: Beech Grove Plaza
This event is free of charge.

An early work by the court poet and trouvère Adam de la Halle, La Jeu de la Feuillée is a lightly satirical play - largely plot-free but gag-heavy - mocking the foibles of Adam’s contemporaries among the citizenry of his hometown of Arras. Featuring a caricature of the playwright himself as a central character, accompanied by parodic versions of his friends and associates, La Jeu de la Feuillée follows the attempts of the citizens to win the favour of a fickle band of otherworldly fairies on their annual visit to the town, while struggling with their own internal disputes, the consequences of their less-than-virtuous activity, and the disruption caused by a local monk and his band of lunatics and madmen.

The Lords of Misrule are an amateur dramatic society first established nearly 50 years ago at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York. Over the years they have performed a range of medieval, and occasionally early modern, drama, sometimes in modernised form and sometimes in the original language. They always aim to bring out the spirit of the plays, never oversimplifying them, but always making them accessible to a wide audience. They have also taken part in the York Mystery Plays, most recently in the summer of 2022, performing the ‘The Last Supper’ play on the waggons for the first time since the Mystery Plays were revived in the 20th century.

During the pandemic, they pivoted to audio plays, creating a production of The Canterbury Tales, The Devil is an Ass, as well as Everyman and Mankynde.