Category Archives: Animals

Yvain: Talk of love, with animal puppets

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About the scene and clip: 
The solo performer performs the talk of love between Laudine and Yvain using animal puppets—a cat and a lion—to represent the two characters. (The same actor also performed this scene without puppets.)

About the work:
Yvain is one of the five surviving romances by Chrétien de Troyes, who is often considered the father of Arthurian romance. This great work, in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, was composed for Marie, Countess of Champagne, around 1170. The romance recounts the adventures of Yvain, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who wins the beautiful Laudine in marriage (having killed her husband in single combat). He then loses both her love and his honor through his failure to keep a vow to return home from his knightly activities by an agreed-upon date. The second half of the romance is devoted to adventures in which Yvain, accompanied by a lion, creates a new name for himself (the “Knight with the Lion”), recovers his honor through a series of good deeds, and finally wins back his wife.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Yvain or The Knight with the Lion, trans. Ruth Harwood Cline, Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press, 1975, pp. 55ff. Old French: Le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain), ed./trans. David F. Hult, in Romans de Chrétien de Troyes, eds./trans. J.M. Fritz et al, Paris, Classiques Modernes/ Livre de Poche, 1994.

About the performer/ensemble: 
Sean Brannon is a Drama student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2013).

About the production: 
This performance was created for the course “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz at New York University in spring 2013. It was videoed by McKenzie Beehler and edited by Abigail Wahl.

Tristan by Béroul: Tristan teaches dog to hunt without barking

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About the scene and clip:
Tristan and Iseut are living together in the forest as outlaws; Tristan’s beloved dog, Husdent, has run off to join them. Fearing that Husdent’s barks will endanger their lives, Tristan teaches him to hunt without barking. Two performers do the scene—one as the dog.

About the work:
Béroul’s mid-12th-century story of Tristan and Iseut is one of the earliest surviving versions of the love story. He is completely on the lovers’ side, though their love is illicit. Béroul’s narrative is full of dialogues and dramatic scenes, some of them strongly comic, some highly physical.

About the genre:
This work is probably best understood as a tale that is close to a romance, or an early romance.

The tale, like the epic, is an ancient genre and one found everywhere in the world. Many tales are firmly rooted in oral tradition and are recited or told by amateur and professional storytellers and performers. Other tales are the work of literarily sophisticated authors and are often intended to be read aloud or silently from written texts. Some tales circulate separately, while others are part of collections, which may be set in complex frames (as in the case of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales). There are many sub-groups of tales with specific characteristics; see for example the “lai” and the “fabliau.”

Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Béroul, The Romance of Tristan, ed. and trans. Norris J. Lacy, New York, Garland, 1989, pp. 75ff.

About the performer/ensemble:
Chris Chianesi and Jennifer Seifter are Drama students in the CAP 21 Studio at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2008).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in spring 2008; it was videoed in the classroom.

Fables: Mouse and Frog

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About the scene and clip:
Doing all the roles, the performer tells about the foolish mouse, the greedy frog, and the kite (a kind of hawk).

About the work:
Marie de France, a major literary figure from the Middle Ages, is one of the few women writers of the period whose work has survived. Little is known of her, except that she was almost certainly of the nobility. She wrote in England apparently in the 1160s and ‘70s; her work is in French (or “Anglo-Norman”: the French language as spoken and written in medieval England). She wrote lais—a dozen short narrative poems with Breton roots, composed in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, and bearing on love in its many forms. The lais circulated separately, and also together in a volume that she dedicated to King Henry (probably English King Henry II). She also wrote Espurgatoire seint Patriz (St. Patrick’s Purgatory), about a pilgrimage down to the afterlife, based on Latin sources; and Fables, also based largely on Latin sources. She is now widely believed also to have been the author of the Anglo-NormanVie seinte Audree (Life of Saint Audrey).

About the genre:
A fable is a short tale, frequently featuring animals; most fables have a clear moral point, often stated explicitly at the beginning or end. Medieval European fables generally draw heavily on those of Aesop, who in turn was influenced by Indian and other Eastern fables and moral tales.

About the edition/translation:
The Fables of Marie de France, ed. and English translation, Mary Lou Martin, Birmingham, Ala., Summa Publications, 1984, pp. 37-40.

About the performer/ensemble:
Sasha Orr is an Economics Major in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for an Independent Study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2005; it was a final performance for the course, and was videoed in December 2005 at the Maison Française of New York University by Nick Spangler.

Yvain: Maiden provides horse

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About the scene and clip:
In a comic, edgy performance, high in energy, the actor tells and acts out the scene where a maiden (who has just healed Yvain’s madness with a magic balm) brings him a horse to ride.

About the work:
Yvain is one of the five surviving romances by Chrétien de Troyes, who is often considered the father of Arthurian romance. This great work, in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, was composed for Marie, Countess of Champagne, around 1170. The romance recounts the adventures of Yvain, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who wins the beautiful Laudine in marriage (having killed her husband in single combat). He then loses both her love and his honor through his failure to keep a vow to return home from his knightly activities by an agreed-upon date. The second half of the romance is devoted to adventures in which Yvain, accompanied by a lion, creates a new name for himself (the “Knight with the Lion”), recovers his honor through a series of good deeds, and finally wins back his wife.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Yvain or The Knight with the Lion, trans. Ruth Harwood Cline, Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press, 1975, pp 86ff. Old French: Le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain), ed./trans. David F. Hult, in Romans de Chrétien de Troyes, eds./trans. J.M. Fritz et al, Paris, Classiques Modernes/Livre de Poche, 1994.

About the performer/ensemble:
Theo Stockman is a Drama student in the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2006).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz, in fall 2006.

Jataka: Three tales

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About the scene and clip:
The performer reads aloud and acts out three stories from the Indian Jataka: He tells about a foolish tortoise that falls to its death because it cannot keep its mouth shut (the Bodhisattva, as king’s adviser, tells this tale to the overly-talkative king); he tells about a man who cleverly recovers property that had unjustly been taken from him (here, the Bodhisattva is the Lord Justice); and he tells about a foolish crow and jackal, with the Bodhisattva as wise tree-sprite.

About the work:
The Indian tales of the Jataka are part of a large body of folklore and literature concerning the previous births of the Buddha as Bodhisattva (one seeking or revealing Buddha-hood). The tales generally show the Bodhisattva, who has taken some particular human or animal form, displaying and teaching his wisdom to those around him, and sometimes performing miracles. The tales survive in various forms and collections in Pali (a vernacular dialect of Sanskrit), Sanskrit, and other languages, and influenced storytelling in many parts of the world—in particular, stories involving animals, from Aesop’s fables to the medieval fabliaux, and beyond. Though some tales from the Jataka go back to before the 3rd century BC, the Pali text may date from around the 5th century AD.

About the genre:
This story belongs to the tale tradition. The tale, like the epic, is an ancient genre and one found everywhere in the world. Many tales are firmly rooted in oral tradition and are recited or told by amateur and professional storytellers and performers. Other tales are the work of literarily sophisticated authors and are often intended to be read aloud or silently from written texts. Some tales circulate separately, while others are part of collections, which may be set in complex frames (as in the case of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales). There are many sub-groups of tales with specific characteristics; see for example the “lai” and the “fabliau.”

This story also belongs to the genre of hagiography. Stories about the saintly wisdom, heroism, or miracles of remarkable men and women exist in many religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Such stories are termed “hagiography.” In medieval Europe, the saint’s life or legend was an extremely popular type of work. A great many stories (and plays) about male and female Christian saints exist in Latin and in all the vernacular languages. These works may focus on the saint’s dramatic death by martyrdom, or recount the remarkable miracles performed by the saint, or may relate the entire life of the holy man or woman. Among the most important collections of saints’ lives and legends is The Golden Legend by Jacobus of Voragine. Chaucer’s “Prioress’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales is a tale of martyrdom. Miracle and pious tales about the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, constitute a special, and highly important, category of saintly legends.

About the edition/translation:
The Jataka; or, Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. Translated from the Pali by various hands under the editorship of Professor E. B. Cowell, London, Published for the Pali Text Society by Luzac & Comp., 1969, 6 v.; Vol. II translated by Robert Chalmers (1895), pp. 123ff; 127ff; 299ff.

About the performer/ensemble:
Dave Perlow is a Drama student in the CAP 21 Studio at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for a group independent study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2005; it was a final performance for the course, and was videoed in December 2005 at the Maison Française of New York University by Nick Spangler.

St. Brendan: Adventures

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About the scene and clip:
The performer recounts several of the remarkable adventures of St. Brendan and his monks, including the casting out of a little devil from one of the monks, a fight in the sky between two great winged creatures, and the gift of miraculous fruits for the monks.

About the work:
This is a rather unusual work about a saint: it recounts not a life or a martyrdom, but rather a great sea voyage, a blend of fantasy and fact, full of Christian liturgical and symbolic details. Written in Latin in the 9th or early 10th century, it tells how a holy Irish monk, Brendan, gathered a group of fellow monks and traveled with them in a little boat over the deep, meeting with amazing adventures. They land on an island that turns out to be the back of a whale; they witness struggles between strange creatures in the air and in the sea; they meet interesting figures, such as Judas Iscariot, who suffers in the middle of the ocean; and they visit the Isle of the Blessed.

About the genre:
Stories about the saintly wisdom, heroism, or miracles of remarkable men and women exist in many religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Such stories are termed “hagiography.” In medieval Europe, the saint’s life or legend was an extremely popular type of work. A great many stories (and plays) about male and female Christian saints exist in Latin and in all the vernacular languages. These works may focus on the saint’s dramatic death by martyrdom, or recount the remarkable miracles performed by the saint, or may relate the entire life of the holy man or woman. Among the most important collections of saints’ lives and legends is The Golden Legend by Jacobus of Voragine. Chaucer’s “Prioress’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales is a tale of martyrdom. Miracle and pious tales about the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, constitute a special, and highly important, category of saintly legends.

About the edition/translation:
The Age of Bede, trans. J.F. Webb, ed. D.H. Farmer, Harmondsworth, Penguin, rev. ed., 1983, pp. 211ff. Latin: Navigatio sancti Brendani abbatis, from early Latin manuscripts, ed. Carl Selmer, Notre Dame, Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press, 1959.

About the performer/ensemble:
Nick Robbins is a Drama student in The Meisner Studio at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for an Independent Study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2005; it was a final performance for the course, and was videoed in December 2005 at the Maison Française of New York University by Nick Spangler.

Fables: Monkey King

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About the scene and clip:
Doing all the roles, the performer tells about the king, the monkey and his family, and the dishonest and the honest man.

About the work:
Marie de France, a major literary figure from the Middle Ages, is one of the few women writers of the period whose work has survived. Little is known of her, except that she was almost certainly of the nobility. She wrote in England apparently in the 1160s and ‘70s; her work is in French (or “Anglo-Norman”: the French language as spoken and written in medieval England). She wrote lais—a dozen short narrative poems with Breton roots, composed in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, and bearing on love in its many forms. The lais circulated separately, and also together in a volume that she dedicated to King Henry (probably English King Henry II). She also wrote Espurgatoire seint Patriz (St. Patrick’s Purgatory), about a pilgrimage down to the afterlife, based on Latin sources; and Fables, also based largely on Latin sources. She is now widely believed also to have been the author of the Anglo-NormanVie seinte Audree (Life of Saint Audrey).

About the genre:
A fable is a short tale, frequently featuring animals; most fables have a clear moral point, often stated explicitly at the beginning or end. Medieval European fables generally draw heavily on those of Aesop, who in turn was influenced by Indian and other Eastern fables and moral tales.

About the edition/translation:
The Fables of Marie de France, ed. and English translation, Mary Lou Martin, Birmingham, Ala., Summa Publications, 1984, pp. 107-9.

About the performer/ensemble:
Sasha Orr is an Economics Major in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for an Independent Study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2005; it was a final performance for the course, and was videoed in December 2005 at the Maison Française of New York University by Nick Spangler.

Yvain: Fight with demons, 2

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About the scene and clip:
The solo performer tells part of the fight between the devil’s sons and Yvain and his lion. In a strongly physical performance, he acts out all the parts.

About the work:
Yvain is one of the five surviving romances by Chrétien de Troyes, who is often considered the father of Arthurian romance. This great work, in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, was composed for Marie, Countess of Champagne, around 1170. The romance recounts the adventures of Yvain, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who wins the beautiful Laudine in marriage (having killed her husband in single combat). He then loses both her love and his honor through his failure to keep a vow to return home from his knightly activities by an agreed-upon date. The second half of the romance is devoted to adventures in which Yvain, accompanied by a lion, creates a new name for himself (the “Knight with the Lion”), recovers his honor through a series of good deeds, and finally wins back his wife.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Abridged from Yvain or The Knight with the Lion, trans. Ruth Harwood Cline, Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press, 1975, pp. 159ff. Old French: Le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain), ed./trans. David F. Hult, inRomans de Chrétien de Troyes, eds./trans. J.M. Fritz et al, Paris, Classiques Modernes/Livre de Poche, 1994.

About the performer/ensemble:
Zack Imbrogno is a Drama student in the Stella Adler Studio of Acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for a book party for Performing Medieval Narrative at the Maison Française of New York University in October 2005. The event was also sponsored by “Storytelling in Performance,” a workshop funded by the Humanities Council of New York University and co-directed by Profs. Timmie Vitz, Nancy Regalado and Martha Hodes. Videography was by NYU-TV.

Yvain: Fight with demons, 1

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About the scene and clip:
The solo performer, playing all the roles, tells and acts out part of the fight between the devil’s sons and Yvain and his lion. She scrapes pot lids together to make alarming, dissonant music, and thrashes a belt for the lion’s tail.

About the work:
Yvain is one of the five surviving romances by Chrétien de Troyes, who is often considered the father of Arthurian romance. This great work, in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, was composed for Marie, Countess of Champagne, around 1170. The romance recounts the adventures of Yvain, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who wins the beautiful Laudine in marriage (having killed her husband in single combat). He then loses both her love and his honor through his failure to keep a vow to return home from his knightly activities by an agreed-upon date. The second half of the romance is devoted to adventures in which Yvain, accompanied by a lion, creates a new name for himself (the “Knight with the Lion”), recovers his honor through a series of good deeds, and finally wins back his wife.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Yvain or The Knight with the Lion, trans. Ruth Harwood Cline, Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press, 1975, pp. 156ff. Old French: Le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain), ed./trans. David F. Hult, in Romans de Chrétien de Troyes, eds./trans. J.M. Fritz et al, Paris, Classiques Modernes/ Livre de Poche, 1994.

About the performer/ensemble:
Elizabeth Sprague is a student in Dramatic Literature and in Journalism in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for a book party for Performing Medieval Narrative at the Maison Française of New York University in October 2005. The event was also sponsored by “Storytelling in Performance,” a workshop funded by the Humanities Council of New York University and co-directed by Profs. Timmie Vitz, Nancy Regalado and Martha Hodes. Videography was by NYU-TV.

Jataka: Two tales

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About the scene and clip:
The performer reads aloud and acts out two stories from the Indian Jataka. He does the tale of the Bodhisattva born as an acrobatic elephant; and he tells the story of the widowed husband whom the Bodhisattva heals of his excessive grief for his dead wife: the husband is cured when he learns that his late queen, Ubari, is now a dungworm.

About the work:
The Indian tales of the Jataka are part of a large body of folklore and literature concerning the previous births of the Buddha as Bodhisattva (one seeking or revealing Buddha-hood). The tales generally show the Bodhisattva, who has taken some particular human or animal form, displaying and teaching his wisdom to those around him, and sometimes performing miracles. The tales survive in various forms and collections in Pali (a vernacular dialect of Sanskrit), Sanskrit, and other languages, and influenced storytelling in many parts of the world—in particular, stories involving animals, from Aesop’s fables to the medieval fabliaux, and beyond. Though some tales from the Jataka go back to before the 3rd century BC, the Pali text may date from around the 5th century AD.

About the genre:
This story belongs to the tale tradition. The tale, like the epic, is an ancient genre and one found everywhere in the world. Many tales are firmly rooted in oral tradition and are recited or told by amateur and professional storytellers and performers. Other tales are the work of literarily sophisticated authors and are often intended to be read aloud or silently from written texts. Some tales circulate separately, while others are part of collections, which may be set in complex frames (as in the case of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales). There are many sub-groups of tales with specific characteristics; see for example the “lai” and the “fabliau.”

This story also belongs to the genre of hagiography. Stories about the saintly wisdom, heroism, or miracles of remarkable men and women exist in many religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Such stories are termed “hagiography.” In medieval Europe, the saint’s life or legend was an extremely popular type of work. A great many stories (and plays) about male and female Christian saints exist in Latin and in all the vernacular languages. These works may focus on the saint’s dramatic death by martyrdom, or recount the remarkable miracles performed by the saint, or may relate the entire life of the holy man or woman. Among the most important collections of saints’ lives and legends is The Golden Legend by Jacobus of Voragine. Chaucer’s “Prioress’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales is a tale of martyrdom. Miracle and pious tales about the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, constitute a special, and highly important, category of saintly legends.

About the edition/translation:
The Jataka, or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. Translated from the Pali by various hands under the editorship of Professor E. B. Cowell. London, Published for the Pali Text Society by Luzac & Comp., 1969, 6 v.; Vols. I-II translated by Robert Chalmers (1895); I, pp. 269ff; II, pp. 108ff.

About the performer/ensemble:
Dave Perlow is a Drama student in the CAP 21 Studio at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for a group independent study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2005. It took place on December 15, 2005, as part of an event titled “Making It Real: Performing the Middle Ages,” at an Off-off-Broadway venue in New York City—The American Place Theatre, 266 West 37th St (22nd floor). The performance was also sponsored by “Storytelling in Performance,” a workshop funded by the Humanities Council of New York University and co-directed by Profs. Timmie Vitz, Nancy Regalado and Martha Hodes. Gina Guadagnino was the videographer.