Talk:Medieval theatre
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This article says no texts of secular medieval theatre survive. This is not so. "Clerico et Puella" is a 14th century playtext from England that is clearly secular drama, and exists in a vernacular analogue called Dame Sirith. There is also an Anglo-French text called "the blind man and the boy", possibly a continental example, and there are numerous German Fastnachtspiele (Carnival plays) on non-religious topics from the 14th-16th centuries.
John lydgate wrote 15th century "mummings" for the royal court, which are drama of a simple sort: the actors mimed their parts with elaborate costumes, and a speaker narrated the plot over them. We might not categorise these as "theatre proper", but that was not a medieval category (1st use of the word dates from 1515 referring to ancient Greek plays, not contemporary practice).
I also suggest that Medwall's "Wit and Science" and "Fulgens and Lucrece" are secular medieval plays, with a developing humanist ethic that one might call "Renaissance". Likewise John Skelton's "Magnyfycence" is from the "morality tradition" of allegorical plays, but is a secular courtly satire.
Of course, we tend to think of these as "Renaissance" plays because they hint towards the future, to Shakespearean drama, and are therefore blind to their strongly medieval characteristics. Unfortunately, there seems to be a great resistance to accepting that medieval plays weren't always religious!—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 163.1.167.69 (163.1.167.69) 17:21, 11 Mar, 2007 (UTC).
- The article doesn't state that no texts from secular survive from the era. In fact, it even names "The Boy and the Blind Man" that you give as an example. When the last sentence of the third paragraph says that, "Not much is known about these performers' repertoire and no written texts survive," it is referring to the antecedents of the previous sentence: "mimes, minstrels, bards, storytellers, and jugglers." No secular texts from THESE types of performers survive.
- Aside from that misunderstanding, I suggest you edit the article to include your vast knowledge of medieval theatre. Wikipedia will only get better if people like you improve it.--Cassmus 22:11, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Profane theater, abele spelen
I came across the phrase "profane theater" (secular Medieval theatre?) and several Dutch articles mention "abele spelen". If anyone knows Dutch, there is an article on it at NL wikipedia that would be nice to get traslated. Goldenrowley 03:12, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
