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Mary Magdalene | Symposium | Saint's Plays | Directors' Round Table
Friday, May, 23
12 noon to 4 p.m.: Symposium
5 p.m.: The Digby Mary Magdalene
Saturday May 24
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Saint's Play Festival
5 p.m.: The Digby Mary Magdalene
Sunday May 25
10: a.m.: Directors' Round Table
The Digby Mary Magdalene is one of the few surviving English saints' plays. The story of the 'fallen woman' befriended by Jesus stimulated the imagination of medieval patristic writers and they developed and extended the scriptural narrative into an elaborate biography for Mary. The Digby Mary Magdalene is a theatrical adaptation of these stories.
The Mary of the play is the daughter of Lord Magdalene and inherits her father's castle on his death. She is tempted by the devil and falls into a sinful life in the taverns of Jerusalem. She meets Jesus, is redeemed, and is witness to his resurrection. She then sails across the Mediterranean Sea and converts the pagan king and queen of Marseilles. After spending her last years alone in the wilderness where angels feed her manna from heaven, she dies and ascends to heaven to live in eternal bliss. It's a sensational play, full of miracles and wonders, which exploits every opportunity for pageantry and spectacle.
Using pageant wagons, masks, music, a moving ship and pyrotechnics, our production aims to re-create the community spirit of a medieval performance. Actors, designers, stage managers and directors from across the university campus are joining forces to stage this extraordinary play.
In keeping with our tradition of research with performance, the PLS
will be presenting a Mary Magdalene Symposium. We will be examining
both the Digby Play of Mary Magdalene and the medieval and post-medieval
view of Mary Magdalene herself. We are pleased to have four distinguished
scholars joining us, and look forward to an informative and entertaining
symposium.
12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m.
Symposium Panel: "Mary Magdalene in the Context of East Anglia”
Presenters:
Dr. Patricia Badir, Associate Professor
Department of English, University of British Columbia
From Icon to Art: the Post-Medieval Afterlife of the Magdalen
Dr. Joanne Findon, Assistant Professor
Dept. of English, Literature, Trent University
The Representation of Mary Magdalene in Hymns and Sermons
Dr. Victor I. Scherb, Associate Professor and Dept.
Chair
Dept. of Literature and Languages, The University of Texas at Tyler
"Thou clepist Mary Mawdelyn into thi sowle to wolcomyn me”:
The Veneration
of Mary Magdalene in Late Medieval East Anglia
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Lunch Break
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Theresa Coletti, Professor of English
University of Maryland
Theology, Theatricality, and the Digby Mary Magdalene
In addition to performing the Digby Mary Magdalene, the PLS will be welcoming companies from four other universities who will be performing in our Saint’s Play Festival. The plays come from England, France and Spain, and range in date from the 12th to 16th centuries. We have four venues for the Saint’s Play Festival, and each play will be performed three times. We have also scheduled the shows so that, no matter which venue you start from, you will be able to see them all.
Auto de San Martinho
Gil Vicente, 1504 (Performed in Spanish)
Presented by the University of Michigan’s Harlotry Players
The
Miracle of Theophile
Rutebeuf, 1261, France (English, translated from French)
Presented by Le Moyne College
Moralite d l’aveugle et du boiteux
Andrieu de la Vigne, 1496 (Performed in French)
Presented by the University of Michigan’s Harlotry Players
The
Play of St. Winifred of Holywell
Script Compiled and Edited by Claudia S. Brown from original material
by John Mirk, 15th century
Robert of Sicily
Author Unknown, (Performed in Middle English)
Presented by the Medieval Studies Institute, Indiana University.
(The text of Robert of Sicily did not survive,
though evidence of it exists in several manuscripts. This production
will be created using
the romance version of the story.)
Venue 1: Playing Field beside Margaret Addison Hall, 140 Charles Street West
5:00 p.m. Digby Mary Magdalene
Venue 2: Outside, beside Margaret Addison Hall, 140 Charles St. West
11:00 a.m. St. Winifred of Holywell
12:20 p.m. St. Winifred of Holywell
2:20 p.m. St. Winifred of Holywell
Venue 3: Outside, behind Emmanuel Hall, 75 Queen’s Park
11:50 a.m. Moralite d l’aveugle et du boiteux
1:30 p.m. Moralite d l’aveugle et du boiteux
2:50 p.m. Moralite d l’aveugle et du boiteux
Venue 4: Emmanuel Hall, room EM 119, Emmanuel College, 75 Queen’s
Park
11:50 a.m. Miracle of Theophile
1:30 p.m. Miracle of Theophile
2:50 p.m. Miracle of Theophile
Venue 5: Emmanuel Chapel, room EM 319, Emmanuel College, 75 Queen’s
Park
11:00 a.m. Robert of Sicily
12:05 p.m. Auto de San Martinho
1:10 p.m. Robert of Sicily
2:15 p.m. Auto de San Martinho
3:30 p.m. Robert of Sicily
4:35 Auto de San Martinho
Option 1:
11:00 a.m. Robert of Sicily
12:05 p.m. Auto de San Martinho
12:40 p.m. Moralite d l’aveugle et du boiteux
1:30 p.m. Miracle of Theophile
2:20 p.m. St. Winifred of Holiwell
Option 2:
11:30 a.m. Moralite d l’aveugle et du boiteux
12:20 p.m. St. Winifred of Holywell
1:10 p.m. Robert of Sicily
2:15 p.m. Auto de San Martinho
2:50 p.m. Miracle of Theophile
Option 3:
11:50 a.m. Miracle of Theophile
12:40 p.m. Moralite de l'aveugle et du boiteaux
2:20 p.m. St. Winifred of Holiwell
3:30 p.m. Robert of Sicily
4:35 p.m. Auto de San Martinho
Option 4:
11:00 a.m. St. Winifred of Holiwell
11:50 a.m. Miracle of Theophile
1:10 p.m. Robert of Sicily
2:15 p.m. Auto de San Martinho
4:00 p.m. Moralite de l'aveugle et du boiteaux
The staging of a medieval or renaissance play is a challenge. At our Directors' Round Table, the directors of the Saint’s Plays and the director of the Digby Mary Magdalene will come together to discuss the challenges tribulations and eventual rewards of bringing these shows to the stage.
Sidebar image: Three Women at The Tomb by Hans Memling, The Malcove Collection, University of Toronto
