IMC 2009: Sessions
Session 1228: English Civic Drama
Wednesday 15 July 2009, 14.15-15.45
Sponsor: | Medieval English Theatre (METh) |
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Organiser: | Philip Butterworth, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds |
Moderator/Chair: | Philip Butterworth, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds |
Paper 1228-a | The Newcastle Noah's Ark: Or the Shipwrights' Ancient Play or Dirge (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Performance Arts - Drama, Performance Arts - General |
Paper 1228-b | 'The Whole Drift of the Play Would Be Altered': North Eastern English Drama Negotiating the Reformation (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Performance Arts - Drama, Performance Arts - General |
Paper 1228-c | Describing the City: The Discourse of Medieval Civic Ceremony (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Performance Arts - Drama, Performance Arts - General |
Abstract | Paper -a: Paper -b: Two significant northern English expressions of discontent – the Pilgrimage of Grace of 1536-37 and the rising of 1569 – suggest that the north east of England was particularly resistant to changes enforced by central government, but the people and governments of individual towns and cities varied in their degrees of resistance or conformity. York and Wakefield at any rate continued to perform increasingly unorthodox plays until the 1570s; on the other hand, there is evidence that the East Riding – where Beverley's Corpus Christi cycle had ceased production c.1521 and the Noah play of the Hull Trinity Guild was last performed in the mid-1530s – was perceived at least to be easily conformist. This paper will examine REED and other records of drama (as well as music and festive activity) mainly from Yorkshire, for evidence of how local councils attempted to negotiate, in their management of their plays and other public shows, the changing demands for conformity to a frequently revised definition of orthodoxy. Beyond that, it will investigate the possibility that communities with thriving local traditions of drama and entertainment were less conformist to the Reformation than others. Paper -c: |