Interesting how things come together: I was thinking along the 'how do you
present the mystery plays to a modern audience' question [ie as authentic as
possible, as in recent years in York, or reworked and modernised as at the
National] when up comes Maggie's question about the fantastic! I reckon to
most people, faced with, say, the unbelieving midwife's withered hand
miracle at the Nativity, or the more far-fetched parts of the Digby Mary
Magdalen play, any medieval drama/hagiography is pretty fantastic in the
sense of strange.
Which brings me to the wider question which I shall have to face up to as I
get further into my own PhD research: what/who were/are the plays for? Is a
production like The Mysteries (or for that matter the Seeing Salvation
exhibition at the Nat Gallery with all its TV ties-ins etc) merely
introducing people to their cultural heritage? Or is it trying to take them
into wider questions about Why Are We Here? Or even, in the 'traditional'
interpretation of the original mystery plays has it, intended to convert to
or strengthen faith/community values?
Oh and re patronal festivals, there's a piece in the Church Times which says
the new lectionary (RCL as modified by CofE) has moved St George to 2 May -
the first available date after Easter, as you can't transfer feasts into
Easter Week itself. Except that most diaries, and therefore people, haven't
realised!
-- --
Penny Granger
23 Chesterton Towers
Cambridge CB4 1DZ
01223 354961
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homepage: http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/rcd95/penny/
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