Medieval World Drama Working Group
THE MWDWG HOLIDAY GATHERING IS HAPPENING ON WED 4 DECEMBER! CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
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 on one Wednesday per month (see our full schedule below), 5pm to 6:30pm, 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, 2024-25
This year’s meetings are all on Wednesdays, 5pm to 6:30pm, except where noted:
September 25, 2024: Rama's Last Act, translated from the Sanskrit/Prakrit, read alongside the York Transfiguration
October 30, 2024: Creation of the World, translated from the Cornish, read alongside the York Creation sequence
November 13, 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 4, 2024: MWDWG HYBRID HOLIDAY GATHERING (this meeting will run later than usual — to 7:15pm)
At this special gathering, co-hosted by PLS, we’ll look 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 will likely be the Auto de los Reyes Magos, Encina’s Nativities, Belcari’s Annunciation, and the York Three Kings sequence. We encourage all attendees — both our in-person folks and especially those coming in remotely — to appear in a holiday-themed costume (medieval or not)!
January 29, 2025: St Gall Passion Play, translated from the German, read alongside some of the York Passion sequence
February 26, 2025: Jour du Jugement, translated from the French, read alongside the York Judgment play
March 26, 2025: Seventh Joy of Mary, translated from the Dutch, read alongside some of the York Death/Assumption/Coronation of Mary sequence
April 9, 2025: A new verse translation of two Welsh plays (Soul and Body/Strong Man) by Morgan Moore, with comments by Moore.
June 7/8, 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 Jackman Humanities Workshop, led by guests from the Viewpoints Institute.
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 30, 2023: continuation of Rabinal Achi (Man of Rabinal), translated from the K’iche’
September 20, 2023: Esmoreit, translated from the Dutch
October 25, 2023: Top Graduate Zhang Xie, in a new translation from the medieval Chinese (with a special guest appearance by Prof. Regina Llamas)
November 29, 2023: more from Top Graduate Zhang Xie, in a new translation from the medieval Chinese
January 31, 2024: Le Jeu de Robin et Marion by Adam de la Halle, translated from the French
February 28, 2024: TBA — a Welsh play (to be chosen by Morgan Moore)
March 27, 2024: La Festa et Storia di Sancta Caterina, translated from the Italian
April 10, 2024: more from La Festa et Storia di Sancta Caterina, translated from the Italian
May 31 and June 1 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.