La Vie Monseigneur Saint Fiacre, one of two medieval French plays featuring the misogynistic horticulturalist, has come down to us in a mildly puzzling form, as a saint play with an interpolated farce. While the text indicates that the farce was intended to be played as an integral part of the performance, it is in fact quite unrelated to the…[Read more]

André de la Vigne (1470?-1526?) in the manuscript of his “Mystère de Saint Martin,” performed in the town of Seurre in October 1496, also included a “moralité” and a “farce.” Although they are positioned at the conclusion of the “mystère,” these short plays were undoubtedly integral to the larger performance. At the same time they are via…[Read more]

The anonymous “Le Sacrifice d’Abraham” performed before Francis I in Paris in 1539 has traditionally been treated–if at all–simply as a variant of an earlier play of the same name published as part of the 15th-century “Mistère du Viel Testament.” More recently, it has been suggested that the play anticipates the direction taken by Théodore de B…[Read more]

Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605), French Reformer and Professor at Lausanne and Geneva, wrote his only play, “Abraham sacrifiant,” in 1550. The only readily available English translation, by Arthur Golding, was published in 1577. The translation offered here, based on the text of the original edition reproduced by Donald Stone, Jr. in “Four R…[Read more]

Four lectures, condensed and sanitized, based on those given to undergraduate students embarking for the first time on the serious study of the history of Western theatre. Unembellished by references to student readings or ad hoc example, by elaborations in response to student questions, or by professorial attempts at humour, they make for…[Read more]