Medieval World Drama Working Group
Since 2019, the Medieval World Drama Reading Group (MWDRG) has been a casual gathering of academics, performers, students, and friends in Toronto who want to expand our knowledge of premodern drama beyond England. The group was adopted as an official part of PLS in spring 2022, then granted funding and status by the Jackman Humanities Institute as a JHI Working Group in fall 2022 — at which point we shifted our name slightly, to become the Medieval World Drama Working Group (MWDWG).
We currently meet roughly once per month, from September through April (the times and days for 2025-26 are still TBA), to cold read medieval dramatic texts, in present-day English translation, from any language other than English.
Yes, we cold read! We never ever ask members to prepare or read material outside of those 90 minutes. One group member will usually volunteer to find, and get us readable copies of, whatever text we’re using at our next meeting — but even that volunteer does not read the text ahead of time (any further than is necessary to get the copies in order). Instead, all of us show up to the text completely cold, and discover it together. We assign roles in that day’s play reading based on casual volunteerism: anyone who wants to read a part can do so, but no one has to read if they don't want to.
In addition to our usual casual cold-read meetings, we also have hosted numerous special events — including lightly rehearsed staged readings of new translations. For instance, click here to watch a video of our “Very Raunchy, Very Gluttonous, Very Medieval” evening of translations from the medieval Spanish and French!
WHERE AND HOW WE MEET
Our meetings are hybrid in format, allowing participants who have trouble making it in person (or who are currently located far from Toronto) to join our live readings as listeners and performers — but we do strongly encourage in-person attendance if at all possible, because live presence has turned out to make a big difference in how much these texts come to life for us (and it allows us, once in a while, to conduct experiments in real space, as when we recently attempted to walk through the traditional Japanese Noh spatial layout as we read, noting how powerfully physical positions informed the lines we performed).
To attend in person, join us in room 100 of the Jackman Humanities Building (first floor, right in the lobby, of 170 St George St, at the corner of St George and Bloor). If you're coming in person and need a hard copy of the text, RSVP if you can to sergi.utoronto@gmail.com.
To attend remotely, contact sergi.utoronto@gmail.com for a Zoom link (or ask to get onto our group mailing list, from which we announce each upcoming gathering and provide all required links).
WHAT WE READ WHEN WE COLD READ
Scholars have long disagreed about which plays should count as medieval — that is, about what the cut-off dates for a group like ours should be — and the instability of those dates increases when the range of texts being read cuts across multiple global sources, since the term medieval is defined inherently by its position between geographically specific cultural movements. And don’t even get me started about what should count as drama. So the MWRWG relies on straightforward, if arbitrary, guidelines for what play texts we take on. We limit the play texts we read to those evidently composed (though not necessarily copied down yet) as prompts for live performance (preferably involving more than one speaker), in any language other than English, before 1550 (and preferably before 1500).
MEETING SCHEDULE, 2025-26
Meeting times and days are TBA, but here is our likely schedule of readings and events:
Late September 2025: SPECIAL EVENT — A full production at the JHB, co-sponsored by PLS, of Morgan Moore’s new translation of the Welsh Strong Man/Soul and Body
Late October 2025: A fully online meeting, reading some of Jody Enders’ translations from French farces
November 2025: A test run of a new translation of the never-performed Dutch Rhetoricians’ Play, The Play of the Fluctuating Currency
December 2025: A test run of a new translation of the Seinte Resurreccion from the French, by Mellor and Saxberg
January 2026: The Story of Joseph, translated from the Old Anatolian Turkish
February 2026: Selections translated from the Japanese Noh, including works by Zeami and Komparu Zenchiku
March 2026: Part I of The Life of Saint Kea, translated from the Cornish
April 2026: Part II of The Life of Saint Kea, translated from the Cornish
MEETINGS AND READINGS FROM PRIOR YEARS
Here’s what else we’ve read so far:
October 2019: Short plays by Juan del Encina (in new translations from the Spanish by MWDRG member Alexandra Atiya)
November 2019 (1): Biblical plays, translated from the Welsh
November 2019 (2): Jean Bodel’s Jeu de Saint Nicolas, translated from the French
December 2019: Muhammad ibn Daniyal’s The Phantom, translated from the Arabic (with a special guest presentation by Prof. Jeanne Miller)
February 2020: Short plays by Zeami, translated from the Japanese
November 2020: Gwreans An Bys and Bewnans Ke, translated from the Cornish
February 2021: Short plays by Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, translated from the German
March 2021: More short plays by Zeami, translated from the Japanese (with a special guest presentation by Prof. Jennifer Goodlander)
June 2021: Three farces (in new translations from the French by Prof. Jody Enders, with a special guest presentation by Prof. Enders)
February 2022: Origo Mundi (cont’d) and The Life of Saint Ke, translated from the Cornish
March 2022 (just after Purim 5782): Crescas de Caylar’s Provençal Esther, translated from the Provençal (which was initially written using Hebrew characters)
and Leone de' Sommi's A Comedy of Betrothal (Tsahoth B'dihutha D'Kiddushin), translated from the Hebrew
April 2022: Mary of Nemmegen, translated from the Dutch
May 2022: More short plays by Juan del Encina (in new translations from the Spanish by MWDRG member Alexandra Atiya)
June 2022: Excerpts from the Mystere de la Passion, translated from the French
July 2022: Part I of Muhammad ibn Daniyal’s Al Mutayyam, translated from the Arabic (with a special guest presentation by Prof. Li Guo)
August 2022: Part II of Muhammad ibn Daniyal’s Al Mutayyam, translated from the Arabic (with a special guest return appearance by Prof. Li Guo!)
October 2022: More selections from the Japanese Noh, including works by Zeami and Komparu Zenchiku
November 2022: Still more selections from the Japanese Noh, including works by Zeami and Komparu Zenchiku
December 2022: Eerste Bliscap Van Maria, translated from the Dutch
January 2023: Qin Jianfu.’s The Eastern Hall Elder Reforms a Prodigal Son, translated from Yuan Dynasty-era medieval Chinese
February 2023: A Play Concerning Saint Knud, Duke, translated from pre-Reformation Danish, plus (if time allows), the Play of the Merry Magdalen, translated from the Czech
March 2023: Rabinal Achi (Man of Rabinal), translated from the K’iche’
April 2023: SPECIAL EVENT (with thanks for funding support from the Jackman Humanities Institute and for a meeting space from the University of Toronto Centre for Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies) — an invited, lightly rehearsed staged reading of farces from the Recueil du British Museum (debuting new translations from the French by Jody Enders) and of Juan del Encina’s Eclogues (debuting new translations from the Spanish by Alexandra Atiya).
August 2023: continuation of Rabinal Achi (Man of Rabinal), translated from the K’iche’
September 2023: Esmoreit, translated from the Dutch
October 2023: Top Graduate Zhang Xie, in a new translation from the medieval Chinese (with a special guest appearance by Prof. Regina Llamas)
November 2023: more from Top Graduate Zhang Xie, in a new translation from the medieval Chinese
January 2024: Le Jeu de Robin et Marion by Adam de la Halle, translated from the French
February 2024: TBA — a Welsh play (to be chosen by Morgan Moore)
March 2024: La Festa et Storia di Sancta Caterina, translated from the Italian
April 2024: more from La Festa et Storia di Sancta Caterina, translated from the Italian
May/June 2024: SPECIAL EVENT — an invited, lightly staged reading of Muhammad ibn Daniyal’s Al Mutayyam, newly translated from the medieval Arabic by Prof. Li Guo and set into theatrical verse by yours truly, Prof. Matt Sergi.
September 2024: Rama's Last Act, translated from the Sanskrit/Prakrit, read alongside the York Transfiguration
October 2024: Creation of the World, translated from the Cornish, read alongside the York Creation sequence
November 2024 (start time 5:15pm rather than 5pm): Belcari’s Play of Abraham and Isaac, translated from the Italian, read alongside the York Abraham
December 2024: SPECIAL EVENT — at this special gathering, co-hosted by PLS, we looked at a range of Nativity Plays from English, Spanish, and Italian sources, with translator Alexandra Atiya in attendance to read for us from some of the original Spanish text. Among our selections were Encina’s Nativities, Belcari’s Annunciation, and the York Three Kings sequence.
January 2025: St Gall Passion Play, translated from the German, read alongside some of the York Passion sequence
February 2025: Seventh Joy of Mary, translated from the Dutch, read alongside some of the York Death/Assumption/Coronation of Mary sequence
March 2025: New farce material translated from the French by the one and only Jody Enders, with comments by Enders.
April 2025: A new verse translation of two Welsh plays (Soul and Body/Strong Man) by Morgan Moore, with comments by Moore.
June 2025: SPECIAL EVENT — the massive York Plays 2025 all-day performance, featuring performances by multiple MWDWG members, and a day of talks and workshops, including a keynote embodied performance workshop at Victoria College, sponsored by the MWDWG/Jackman Humanities Institute, led by guests from the Viewpoints Institute.