IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 209: Spheres of Activity and Their Limits in Medieval Theatre

Monday 6 July 2020, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:	Société internationale pour l'étude du théâtre médiéval (SITM)
Organiser:	Cora Dietl, Institut für Germanistik, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen
Moderator/Chair:	Cora Dietl, Institut für Germanistik, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen
Paper 209-a	Playing Mercy: Crossing Personal Boundaries in Mankind (Language: English) Ann Hubert, Department of English, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Lay Piety, Performance Arts - Drama, Rhetoric
Paper 209-b	Moving Boundaries: Observations on the Collusive Potential of the Figures and Objects in Saints' Plays and Plays of the Holy Cross (Language: English) Angelika Kemper, Institut für Germanistik, Universität Klagenfurt Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - German, Performance Arts - Drama, Religious Life
Paper 209-c	Between Stage and Playbill: The Frieze of Notre-Dame-la-Grande in Poitiers (Language: English) Amálie Bulandrová, Faculty of Arts Masarykova univerzita Brno Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Art History - General, Liturgy, Performance Arts - Dance
Abstract	How do figures in medieval didactic and religious theatre define, limit and expand their own and other figures' spheres of activity, both on stage and in the communication between stage and audience? Paper -a: This paper asks how in Mankind language is used to erect boundaries between Mercy and the vices. The paper contends that Mercy undergoes a boundary-breaking emotional transformation that not only alters his character arc but also persuades mankind as character and as audience member to reform his wayward journey. Paper -b: This paper analyzes the spheres of action of holy figures and objects in German plays of the Holy Cross and of St George. It asks whether the notion of 'holiness' implies boundaries of movement and action different from the spacial limits on stage, and asks how the sacred and the divine can be translated into space. Paper -c: This paper analyzes the correlation between the figures on the outside frieze and the inside place for staging liturgical drama in the church of Notre-Dame-la Grande in Poitiers. It focusses on the spatial arrangement of both the interior and the exterior of the building in order to examine its methods of communication with the spectator.