VPDP 11H3:

Theatre History II
Early Modern Popular Theatre

Today:
Towards the end of
civilization
Matt Jones
mf.jones@mail.utoronto.ca

agenda
Welcome
Lecture on history and the rise and fall of drama
Pecha Kucha presentations

The Year Is 1916

For two years the armies of Europes most powerful

economies have been destroying each other

But meanwhile in a small club in neutral Switzerland

a performance of a completely different kind is taking

place

dada

Tristan Tzara

Hugo Ball, Karawane (1916)

Tristan Tzara, Dada Manifesto

Dada; abolition of logic, which is the dance of those impotent to
create: Dada; of every social hierarchy and equation set up for the
sake of values by our valets: Dada; every object, all objects,
sentiments, obscurities, apparitions and the precise clash of parallel
lines are weapons for the fight: Dada; abolition of memory: Dada;
abolition of archaeology: Dada; abolition of prophets: Dada; abolition
of the future: Dada; absolute and unquestionable faith in every god
that is the immediate product of spontaneity to respect all
individuals in their folly of the moment: whether it be serious,
fearful, timid, ardent, vigorous, determined, enthusiastic Freedom:
Dada Dada Dada, a roaring of tense colors, and interlacing of
opposites and of all contradictions, grotesques, inconsistencies: LIFE

How did we get here?

Minstrels

Carnival

The Dance of Death (late medieval)

Everyman (c. 1510)

"Of ghostly sight the people be so
blind,
Drowned in sin, they know me not
for their God;
In worldly riches is all their mind,
They fear not my rightwiseness,
the sharp rod...
- God to Everyman

Everyman, adapted by Carol Ann Duffy. With

Chiwetel Ejiofer. National Theatre, London (2015)

Medieval
pageant plays

Thomas

ca. 1375-1550 AD--English-English Pageant wagon, perhaps

showing the annunciation--from

Medieval society

Modern society

Economy

Agriculture

Industry, commerce

Economic system

Feudalism

Capitalism

The powerful

Lords (and ladies),

aristocrats

Investors, owners,
businesspeople

Government

Monarchies, lordships

Centralized democracy

Ruler chosen by

Divine right (god)

Popular vote

The powerless

Peasants, serfs, slaves

Workers, the unemployed

Currency

Mostly barter, some cash

Cash, credit

Wealth

Land

Ownership, sales,
investment

Justice

Arbitrary, violent,
spectacular

Legal

Religion

Central to daily life, power

Personal, separate from

power

Society

Collectivist

Individualistic

Ideology

Religion, tradition

Reason, science

Time

Continuity

Progress, change, evolution

Geography

Local, rural

Global, urban

The Renaissance (C14C17)