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The Second Birth of Theatre

Performances of Anglo-Saxon Monks

by Mirosław Kocur (Author)
©2017 Monographs 226 Pages

Summary

This book presents a new approach to early English theatre by exposing a genuine relationship between monastic performances and theatricality. It argues that modern theatre was reinvented in Anglo-Saxon monasteries by monks who were required to transform themselves by disciplining their bodies and performing complex religious acts. After extensively surveying the monastic and liturgical sources of theatre the author reconstructs the XII-century staging of the Anglo-Norman «Ordo representacionis Ade» and demonstrates the fundamental incongruity between the ancient and Christian performativity. On a more personal note he concludes with comments on references to the monastic rule in «Performer», a programmatic text by Jerzy Grotowski.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Table of Contents
  • Abbreviations
  • List of Illustrations
  • Prologue: Cædmon
  • Part one: Monk as Performer
  • Monasticism
  • The Rule
  • Evangelization
  • Mynster
  • Regularis Concordia
  • Everyday Performances
  • Bodily Performances
  • Part two: Liturgical Performances
  • Christmas
  • Feast of the Purification of the Virgin
  • Lent
  • Palm Sunday
  • Holy Thursday
  • Good Friday
  • Easter Eve
  • Easter
  • Quem Quaeritis
  • The Second Birth of Theatre
  • Liturgical Performances after the 10th Century
  • Performance Art of Anglo-Saxon Monks
  • Part three: Church and Theatre
  • The Clergy
  • Mass
  • Transubstantiation
  • Ordo Representacionis Ade
  • Towards Christian Performativity
  • A personal epilogue: Performer as Monk
  • Bibliography
  • Index

Mirosław Kocur

The Second Birth of Theatre

Performances of Anglo-Saxon Monks

Translated by Grzegorz Czemiel

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About the author

Mirosław Kocur is Head of Cultural Studies at the University of Wrocław and Professor at L. Solski Theatre Academy for the Dramatic Arts. His research focuses on studying acting techniques and reconstructing the origins of performing practices. He is the author of «On the Origins of Theater».

About the book

This book presents a new approach to early English theatre by exposing a genuine relationship between monastic performances and theatricality. It argues that modern theatre was reinvented in Anglo-Saxon monasteries by monks who were required to transform themselves by disciplining their bodies and performing complex religious acts. After extensively surveying the monastic and liturgical sources of theatre the author reconstructs the XII-century staging of the Anglo-Norman «Ordo representacionis Ade» and demonstrates the fundamental incongruity between the ancient and Christian performativity. On a more personal note he concludes with comments on references to the monastic rule in «Performer», a programmatic text by Jerzy Grotowski.

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Abbreviations

ASE: Anglo-Saxon England

Bede, HE: Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, ed. C. Plummer, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1896)

CCSL: Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina (Turnhout)

CED: Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, eds. A.W. Haddan and W. Stubbs, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1869–1871)

CHBT: The Cambridge History of British Theatre, ed. P. Thomson, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 2004)

CHC: The Cambridge History of Christianity (Cambridge):

o 1: Origins to Constantine, eds. M.M. Mitchell and F.M. Young (2006)

o 2: Constantine to c. 600, eds. A. Casiday and F.W. Norris (2007)

o 3: Early Medieval Christianities, c. 600 – c. 1100, eds. T.F.X. Noble, J.M.H. Smith and R.A. Baranowski (2008)

o 4: Christianity in Western Europe c. 1100 – c. 1500, eds. M. Rubin and W. Simons (2009)

CIC: Corpus iuris canonici, edition Lipsiensis secunda post Aemili Ludouici Richteri curas ad librorum manu scriptorium et editionis Romanae fidem recognouit et adnotatione critica instruxit Aemilius Friedberg, vol. 1: Decretum Magistri Gratiani (Leipzig, 1879)

CNRS : Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

CS : Cystercian Studies Series

CT 3.2: Corpus troporum, vol. 3: Corpus du propre de la messe, part 2: Cycle de Pâques (Acta Universitatis Stokholmiensis 25), eds. G. Björkvall, G. Ivesren and R. Jonsson (Stockholm, 1982)

CSASE: Cambridge studies in Anglo-Saxon England

CSEL: Corpus scriptorium ecclesiasticorum latinorum

CUA: The Catholic University of America

The Digby Plays: The Late Medieval Religious Plays of Bodleian Mss. Digby 133 and E Museo 160 (EETS ES 238), eds. D.C. Baker, J.L. Murphy and L.B. Hall (London, 1982)

DNP: Der neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie der Antike, eds. H. Cancik and H. Schneider, 16 vols. (Stuttgart, 1996–2003)

DTRB: Ian Lancashire, Dramatic Texts and Records of Britain. A Chronological Topography to 1558 (SEED 1) (Toronto and Buffalo, 1984)

EDAM: Early Drama, Art and Music←7 | 8→

EETS OS, ES, SS: Early English Text Society, Original Series, Extra Series, Supplementary Series

Ep.: Epistolae

ETJ: Education Theatre Journal

fol.: folio

GCS: Die griechische christliche Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhundert (Berlin)

HBS: Henry Bradshaw Society

HE: Historia ecclesiastica

HL: Historia Lausiaca

HR: Historia religiosa

JAC: Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum

JEH: Journal of Ecclesiastical History

JTS: Journal of Theological Studies

Lipphardt: W. Lipphardt (ed.), Lateinische Osterfeiern und Osterspiele, 9 vols. (Berlin and New York, 1975–1990)

Details

Pages
226
Year
2017
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631709597
ISBN (PDF)
9783653071276
ISBN (MOBI)
9783631709603
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631679128
DOI
10.3726/978-3-653-07127-6
Language
English
Publication date
2017 (April)
Keywords
English drama Christian performativity Liturgy Monasticism Mass Quem quearitis
Published
Frankfurt am Main, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2017. 226 pp., 8 b/w ill., 5 coloured ill.

Biographical notes

Mirosław Kocur (Author)

Mirosław Kocur is Head of Cultural Studies at the University of Wrocław and Professor at L. Solski Theatre Academy for the Dramatic Arts. His research focuses on studying acting techniques and reconstructing the origins of performing practices. He is the author of «On the Origins of Theater».

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228 pages