OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
Los Angeles, California
MEDIEVAL THEATER AND INDO-EUROPEAN CONTEXT
By
Craig T. Fees
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Theater
June, 1981
(c) Craig Fees 1981
Precis of the argument and structure of
MEDIEVAL THEATER AND INDO-EUROPEAN CONTEXT
Medieval European theater is placed, in this study, in a common architectural and ideological context with Indian, Roman, Greek, and Romano-Celtic theaters.The inference is that all reflect a common Indo-European ideology, and the suggestion is made that Medieval theater is part of a continuous tradition pre-dating the Roman era. This argument is based in part on the Romano-Celtic theaters of Northern France and Southern England - Roman era theaters with a non-Roman design analogous to Medieval stages.
The thesis begins with a survey of histories of Medieval theater in English from the beginning of the 18th century to the present, emphasising the development of ideas prior to and leading up to E.K. Chambers' The Medieval Stage (1903), and emphasizing the variety of definitions of theater that have been used since. It is pointed out that all the elements of Chambers' theory were essentially in place by the end of the 18th century. The lack of consensus and rigour in definitions is noted as crippling any attempt to compare historical studies written by different scholars.
To counter the Chambers-Young hypothesis of Medieval theater the following arguments are made: Roman civilization never fell, European culture is consequently continuous into and through the Middle Ages, Western Europe and her culture were influenced by outside theatro-genic cultures, plays were produced before the full development of liturgical drama was achieved, and histories of theater which identify theater with literature are misconceived, and inappropriate to the Medieval era. Specifically, it is shown that Byzantine culture had a major impact on Western Medieval culture; and it is shown that Hrotswitha, writing in Medieval Germany, created plays to be produced, that were produced, long before the liturgical origins theory can account for them.
A short final essay lays the groundwork for a new definition of theater, and argues the rise of a New Theater History, grounded in production as well as the library.
The thesis of Craig T. Fees is approved by:
Basil Busacca
Thomas Bloom
Omar M. Paxson
Occidental College
Los Angeles, California
Date: 6/4/81
Dedication.
This is dedicated to all the strict princes and princesses, the Sibis and MacDermots, who give with one hand and bring the world to bloom. Particularly to my mother, who has been a veritable patron.
Contents
Precis of the argument and structure of the
thesis
List of Illustrations, Maps,
Tables
Acknowledgements
Essay One: English Histories of Medieval Theater
Introduction: E.K. Chambers
I. Before Chambers: Birth in Conflict
II. The Eighteenth Century
III. The Door of the Nineteenth Century
IV. Stepping into the Nineteenth Century
V. Chambers' Immediate Predecessors
VI. Pause for Definitions
VII. Beyond Chambers: Mainly More Definitions
Essay Two: Questions on Some Basic Assumptions of the
Liturgical-Origins Theory
I. Did Roman Civilization "Fall"?
II. Hrotswitha
III. External Influences on Medieval Western Theater
The Islamic World
Byzantium
The Jews
India
IV. What is the Meaning of the Absence of Records?
Essay Three: Theater in Indo-European Tradition
I. Archeology
The Romano-Celtic Theater
General
Design
Situation
Types
Sites
"Indo-European" and the Question of a Pre-Indo-European Drama
The Indo-European Architectural Context of the Romano-Celtic Theaters
II. Ideology
The Category "Theater"
Order, Game and Victory
Conforming to Order, and Truth
Victory and Creation
The Sacred, the Relations of Gods and Men
Praise
Festival
Patronage and Power
Conclusion
III. Theater
1. Vox populi
2. Patronage
3. Theater as Devotion
Rome
Celts
Greeks
India
Western Medieval
4. Theater as Scripture
5. Blessing
Essay Four: Defining Theater
Concluding Remarks
Notes
Bibliography
Folkdrama Bibliography
Sources of Illustrations
Figs. 1,2,3,4: Richard Ettinghausen, "The Dance With Zoomorphic Masks
and Other Forms of Entertainment Seen in Islamic Art," in Arabic and
Islamic Studies in Honor of Hamilton A.R. Gibb, ed. George Makdisi,
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965, following p. 224.
Fig. 5: S.S. Frere, "Excavations at Verulamium 1959,"
Antiquaries' Journal 40 (1960), p. 7.
Figs. 6,7,8,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25: Kathleen Kenyon, "The Roman
Theatre at Verulamium, St. Albans," Archaeologia 84 (1934), plates
and p. 249.
Figs. 9, 10: Rosalind Dunnett, "The Excavation of the Roman Theatre at
Gosbeck's," Britannia 2 (1971), pp. 28, 42.
Fig. 11: J-L. Massy and J-L. Cadoux, "Etudes," Revue du
Nord 52 (1970), p. 470.
Fig. 12: Gallia 33 (1973), p. 316.
Fig. 13: M-A. Dollfus, "Le theatre 'rustique' gallo-romain de
Lyons-la-foret," Bulletin de la societe national des antiquaires de
France, 1970, p. 110.
Fig. 14: Gallia 26 (1968), p. 327.
Fig. 15: S.S. Frere, "The Roman Theatre at Canterbury,"
Britannia 1 (1970), p. 88.
Figs. 26, 27: James H. Butler, The Theatre and Drama of Greece and
Rome, San Francisco: Chandler, 1972, pp. 33, 102.
Fig. 28: M. Baudot, "Le probleme des ruines du Vieil-Evreux,"
Gallia 1 (1943), p. 193.
Figs. 29, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39: J.B. Ward-Perkins, Roman Architecture,
New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974, pp. 38, 44, 134, 287.
Fig. 30: Edith M. Wightman, Roman Trier and the Treveri, London:
Hart-Davis, 1970, p. 216.
Figs. 31, 34: From Alois M. Nagler, The Medieval Religious Stage,
trans. George C. Schoolfield, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976, p. 50 and
frontispiece.
Fig. 32: John R. Elliott, Jr., "Medieval Rounds and Wooden O's,"
Stratford-upon-Avon Studies 16 (1973), p. 235.
Fig. 33: In Kenneth M. Dodd, "Another Elizabethan Theater in the
Round," Shakespeare Quarterly 21 (1970), p. 142.
Fig. 40: Lawrence Richardson, Jr., "Cosa and Rome: Comitium and
Curia," Archaeology 10 (1957), p. 50.
Fig. 41: Marija Gimbutas, The Balts, New York: Praeger, 1963, p. 181.
Figs. 42, 43, 44, 45, 46: A.H. Allcroft, "The Circle and the
Cross," Archaeological Journal 78 (1921), pp. 371, 363, 361, 362,
381.
Fig. 47: Author's collection.
List of Illustrations, Maps,
Tables
Frontispiece
Fig. 1. "The Dance of the Sufis and their Shahids"
Fig. 2. "Entertainers"
Fig. 3. "Entertainers"
Fig. 4. "Entertainers"
Map. Romano-Celtic Theaters
Table. Romano-Celtic Theaters
Fig. 5. Verulamium, 1959
Fig. 6. Verulamium Theater, all phases
Fig. 7. Verulamium Theater, periods I and IA
Fig. 8. Verulamium Theater, period IV
Fig. 9. Gosbeck's Farm, near Colchester
Fig. 10. Gosbeck's Theater, 1967
Fig. 11. Ribemont-sur-Ancre
Fig. 12. Ribemont-sur-Ancre, Theater
Fig. 13. Lyons-la-Foret, Theater
Fig. 14. St. Marcel/Argentomagus, Theater
Table. Indo-European Languages
Fig. 15. Canterbury, Theater
Fig. 16. Herbord, France, Theater
Fig. 17, Vieux, France, Theater
Fig. 18. Vieil-Evreux, France, Theater
Fig. 19. Evreux, France, Theater
Fig. 20. Alesia, France, Theater
Fig. 21, Avenches, Switzerland, Theater
Fig. 22. Berthouville, France, Theater
Fig. 23. Drevant, France, Theater
Fig. 24. Lillebonne, France, Theater
Fig. 25. Valognes, France, Theater
Fig. 26. Theater of Dionysus, Greece
Fig. 27. Vitruvian Roman Theater
Fig. 28. Vieil-Evreux, France, Site
Fig. 29: Augst, Switzerland, Site
Fig. 30: Altbachtal, Trier, Germany, sacred precinct
Fig. 31. The Castle of Perseverance, ground plan.
Fig. 32. Elizabethan Playhouse
Fig. 33. "The Place of Execution", Breugel
Fig. 34. "The Martyrdom of St. Apollonia," Jean Fouquet
Fig. 35. Tibur (Tivoli) Temple of Hercules Victor
Fig. 36. Gabii, Sanctuary
Fig. 37. Praeneste (Palestrina), Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia
Fig. 38. Pantheon, Roma
Fig. 39. Pergamon, east end of the Sanctuary of Aesculapius
Fig. 40. Cosa; Comitium and Curia, second period.
Fig. 41. Baltic Sanctuary, Tushemlja
Fig. 42. Auchquhorthies in Manar
Fig. 43. Hatton of Ardoyne
Fig. 44. Ardlair in Kennethmont
Fig. 45. Auchquhorthies in Banchory-Devenick
Fig. 46. Carol Wood Circle; plan
Fig. 47. Romano-Celtic Theater, Los Angeles.
Backplate
Preface
In all quotes taken from French sources, I have used my English translation in the text and placed the original French text in the footnotes.
Because I have quoted extensively from outside sources, particularly in the first essay, I have elected to indent and single space only longer quotes from literature, but not opinions and statements of other shcolars. I believe this helps to maintain the flow in what could otherwise be a visual scramble.
In the Romano-Celtic theater bibliography, I have used a different style for listing books and articles dealing with specific archeological sites. Because date of publication is particularly significant where the exploration of sites is concerned, I have emphasized the date by putting it first in the listing.
Acknowledgements
I have rung up quite a few debts on the way to this study.
I would like to thank my graduate committee: Dr. Basil Busacca, in whose History of Drama class this entire project began; Dr. Omar Paxson, to whom I am indebted for George Bernard Shaw, and the vocabulary of theater; and Tom Bloom, who was shanghaied into this, bringing good will, a reputation as an excellent teacher, and theatrical and historical knowledge with him.
I would like to thank those teachers whose expertise, love of subject, and enthusiasm imparted to me a love of their fields, and set me on the road to what has become this study: Dr. Elizabeth Barber (Archaeology and Linguistics), Dr. Benjamin Freedman (History of Ideas), Randy Kone (Professional Technical Theater), Dr. Robert Lear (Medieval History), Dr. Lewis Owen (Anglo Saxon and Early English Literature), and Dr. Floyd Ross (Indian Philosophy).
Candace Sanders and Cecilia Fox, at different times heads of the graduate office, have provided the intangible atmosphere of support and caring that becomes crucial in the dark times of thesis writing, truly giving.
I need to thank Jeri Burnside, who walked me step by step through the etching of the frontispiece and the final piece, with the attendant joy of creation. I would also like to thank Laurel Edgecomb, whose comments and criticisms in the eraly stages of this paper have made it turn out much better (although the flaws that remain are all mine).
And finally, I have a special debt to three men who greatly influenced my intellectual development, who died in the course of this study: My Dad, Haden H. Douglas, Jr., a graduate in directing from the University of Texas; Jean Piaget; and Jean-Paul Sartre.