Reform and Renewal: New Directions in Early Drama Research – A Round Table Discussion at Leeds IMC 2015

Sponsored by Medieval English Theatre and Early English Drama & Performance Network

Tuesday 7th July 2015 7-8pm

The last forty years have seen tremendous change and innovation in medieval drama research. During this time the field has gradually moved from the margins to hold a more central position in medieval studies, has shifted its focus from drama-as-text to drama-as-performance and in doing so has proven the importance of performance to medieval European culture. The field has also been subject to many theoretical reforms as scholars seek out new approaches to the often fragmentary extant source materials, and yet, with a new wave of early drama scholars, there has also been a renewal of more traditional scholarship and a return to analysing early playtexts as literary objects, operating within a medieval reading, as well as a performance, culture.

Given Medieval English Theatre’s recent official constitution as a Society, the IMC 2015 provides an opportune moment in which to bring together scholars at all stages of their careers to discuss current trends in and new approaches to medieval and Tudor drama, to think about how far the field has advanced and its future directions.

Participants include Elisabeth Dutton (Université de Fribourg), Tamara Haddad (University of Kent), Peter Happé (University of Southampton), Pamela King (University of Glasgow), Laura Elizabeth Rice (University of Bristol), and Meg Twycross (Lancaster University).

Other Drama Sessions:

Comic Drama on the European Continent: A Cross-Cultural Exploration [Session No: 804]

Reform and Transition in Medieval and Early Modern Performative Culture [Session No: 1231]
Structures, Symbolic Architecture, and Medieval Theatre [Session No: 305]
Teaching Faith, Spreading Doubt: The Portrayal of Religion and the Church in Art, Drama, and Literature [Session No: 704]
The Reception of Medieval Characters and Themes in Modern and Early Modern Drama [Session No: 1530]
Touching the Body in the Middle Ages [Session No: 506]
Using Present-Day Experience to Elucidate Medieval Texts: Drama, Bestiaries, Sexual Advice Literature [Session No: 1241]

Processions, Royal Entries, and the Theatre of Power [Session No: 604]
Renewal in Medieval Spanish and English Theatre [Session No: 332]