Category Archives: Mythology: Classical

Troilus: Reading in a paved parlor

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About the scene and clip:
This clip is a two-part dramatization of Book 2, lines 78-119, of Troilus and Criseyde, performed in Middle English with Modern English subtitles. Part I dramatizes the scene in which Criseyde and her friends are reading aloud to each other in a paved parlor. Part II recreates how medieval audiences would have experienced Chaucer’s poem.

About the work:
The great 14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer is primarily famous for The Canterbury Tales, but he is also the author of several other major works. In Troilus and Criseyde, he retells the tragic story of the Trojan prince, Troilus, and Criseyde. (This story is actually more medieval than classical: it comes from the Roman de Troie by the 12th-century French poet Benoït de Sainte-Maure; Boccaccio also tells the story in Il Filostrato, which is Chaucer’s primary source.) Chaucer tells of Troilus’ love for the beautiful young widow, Criseyde; his extreme timidity as a lover; the intervention of her uncle Pandarus on their behalf; their love-affair; her move to the Greek camp (being forced by her father to do so); her taking of a new lover, the Greek warrior Diomedes; and the heartbroken Troilus’ death in battle. The work is written in “rhyme royal” (seven-line stanzas in iambic pentameter). Shakespeare drew heavily on Chaucer’s poem for his tragedy Troilus and Cressida.

About the genre:
Troilus and Criseyde to some degree defies genre classification, but it draws strongly on romance tradition.

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:
The Riverside Chaucer, eds. Larry Benson, Robert Pratt, F.N. Robertson, Oxford, Oxford Paperbacks, 3rd Rev. Ed., 1988: Troilus and Criseyde, Book 2, lines 78-119.

About the performer/ensemble:
Prof. Joyce Coleman produced and directed the film. Kevin Caliendo (actor, screenwriter), Mark Collett (actor, screenwriter), Christina Norman Dotson (actor, screenwriter), Emily Duda (actor, costumer), Lee Green (actor, location scout), Kimberly Martinson (Antigone, music researcher), Alex Miner (actor, screenwriter), and Ryan Schaller (actor, “Siege of Thebes” researcher) are all graduate students in English and History at the University of Oklahoma (2006). Prof. David Levy (“Philosophical Strode”) is an emeritus professor of History, and Prof. Alan Velie (“Moral Gower”) is a professor of English, both at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Lynne Levy (Chloe) and Dr. Dan Ransom are, respectively, the Managing Editor and the Director of the Chaucer Variorum. Dr. Elisabeth Dutton (Criseyde) teaches at Oxford University.

About the production:
This video was created for a graduate course taught by Prof. Joyce Coleman at the University of Oklahoma in spring 2006: “Authorship through Medieval Eyes.” The film was shot on April 13, 2006 at the University of Oklahoma. Copies of the video with detailed liner notes are available through Prof. Joyce Coleman of the University of Oklahoma. We offer our thanks to her, a member of the advisory board of the website, for allowing us to use this clip.

Gesta: Of fidelity, or young prince rescued from pirates

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About the scene and clip:
The performer first tells the story of a young prince who was rescued from pirates by the beautiful daughter of the pirates’ leader, and of his promise to her. Then, in a forceful preaching style, the performer draws out the allegorical meaning of the story.

About the work:
The Gesta Romanorum is an anonymous collection of stories, written in Latin. Though the earliest manuscripts date from the 14th c., the stories were probably written earlier. The tales consist of stories allegedly about deeds of the ancient Romans, with a Christian moral attached at the end, and were probably used by preachers in their sermons. The work was widely known, and Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Shakespeare all retold tales drawn from it.

About the genre:
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.”

Allegory is a way of composing and of interpreting texts: characters and the plot point beyond themselves to something “other”—something symbolic. Characters are often personifications of forces such as Love, Pride, Reason, or Friendship. The plot is also symbolic: characters’ struggles are between vices and virtues; their journey may refer to life’s pilgrimage or to the discovery of some great truth, such as the nature of love. Works may be entirely allegorical, or may just contain brief passages written in this mode. Allegorical works are often strongly religious, philosophical, or moral.

About the edition/translation:
The Tales of the Gesta Romanorum, translated from the Latin by Charles Swan, revised by Wynnard Hooper, New York, Everest Books, 1959, pp.8-9. Medieval Latin: Märchen und Legenden aus den Gesta Romanorum, mit Holzschnitten von Axel von Leckoschek, Leipzig, Insel, 1926.

About the performer/ensemble:
Zach Fithian is a student in Dramatic Literature in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2006).

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 fall 2006.

King Orfeo: Sung

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About the scene and clip:
Scottish singer Alison McMorland sings this traditional ballad.

About the work:
This song dates from the 14th century. It retells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice—but in the medieval song, Orfeo is a great piper (in some versions, he is a harper) as well as a king, and he succeeds in rescuing his beloved wife. This version of the song is in the Shetland dialect of English, blended with Lowland Scots. The two refrain lines (the second and fourth lines in each stanza) are in Norn, a dialect of Old Norse, found in Shetland; the first line apparently means “The wood is green early”; the second, “Where the hart runs yearly.”

A related clip on this website is “Orfeo: Opening scenes,” taken from another medieval English version of the story of Orpheus.

About the genre:
A ballad is a song that tells a story; ballads are often fairly long, composed of a dozen or more stanzas. Although many other songs, both long and short, also tell stories, the term “ballad” used in this particular sense dates from the late Middle Ages. Some late-medieval ballads and a great many early-modern ballads survive, some of them in multiple versions, and throughout the world. Documentation for ballad melodies is in general substantially later than for the texts.

About the edition/translation:
The classic edition for traditional ballad texts, often with many variants, is The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. Francis James Child, New York, Dover, 1965, 5 vols (orig. 1888). This song is Vol. I, No. 19. This melody was collected by Pat Schuldham-Shaw in 1947 from a singer named John Stickle of Unst: see The Singing Tradition of Child’s Popular Ballads, ed. Bertrand Harris Bronson, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1976, p. 75.

About the performer/ensemble:
Alison McMorland is a professional singer from Scotland who sings a wide range of traditional ballads and other songs, often with Geordie McIntyre. They have co-produced numerous recordings. This song is recorded on their CD “The Ballad Tree,” with full text and notes. Their website is http://alisonmcmorland.com.

About the production:
This clip was filmed for this website at the Eisteddfod Folk Music gathering in upstate New York, sponsored by the New York Folk Music Society, in October 2009. We thank Helen Hart for doing the filming.

Gesta: Magician

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About the scene and clip:
The performer tells the story of a magician who invites people into a beautiful garden where he tricks them out of their inheritance, then cuts them off with nothing. (The use of an apple as a prop serves as a reminder of the story of Adam and Eve, in Genesis.) The performer chose not to perform the Christian allegorical interpretation, considering that the audience might enjoy figuring it out for themselves—but the moral is in fact a bit surprising: the magician is “the world,” not the devil, as one might expect.

About the work:
The Gesta Romanorum is an anonymous collection of stories, written in Latin. Though the earliest manuscripts date from the 14th c., the stories were probably written earlier. The tales consist of stories allegedly about deeds of the ancient Romans, with a Christian moral attached at the end, and were probably used by preachers in their sermons. The work was widely known, and Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Shakespeare all retold tales drawn from it.

About the genre:
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.”

Allegory is a way of composing and of interpreting texts: characters and the plot point beyond themselves to something “other”—something symbolic. Characters are often personifications of forces such as Love, Pride, Reason, or Friendship. The plot is also symbolic: characters’ struggles are between vices and virtues; their journey may refer to life’s pilgrimage or to the discovery of some great truth, such as the nature of love. Works may be entirely allegorical, or may just contain brief passages written in this mode. Allegorical works are often strongly religious, philosophical, or moral.

About the edition/translation:
The Tales of the Gesta Romanorum, translated from the Latin by Charles Swan, revised by Wynnard Hooper, New York, Everest Books, 1959, pp. 55-6. (Note: The title given for this tale in the English translation is “Of the Suggestions of the Devil”—but it is in fact about a magician.) Medieval Latin:Märchen und Legenden aus den Gesta Romanorum, mit Holzschnitten von Axel von Leckoschek, Leipzig, Insel, 1926.

About the performer/ensemble:
Alexandra Dalton in a student of Dramatic Literature in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2009).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in spring 2009. It was videoed in the classroom by a fellow student.

Helen Queen of Sparta: Scenes

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About the scene and clip:
The clips are taken from scenes of Theodora Skipitares’s production of Helen Queen of Sparta. Puppets of various kinds, storyboards, and other multi-media approaches to performance are used in this representation of material drawn from classical Greek epic, drama, and myth. We have included this clip as part of our concern with analogous traditions. It offers an innovative handling of important material drawn from Ancient Greek narrative and drama.

About the work:
Helen Queen of Sparta is based on the Iliad (attributed to Homer), Euripides’ play Helen, and other classical texts.

About the genre:
The epic is an ancient genre and is found in almost every culture. It is a long heroic narrative which tells of war and great deeds. Epics are generally composed in verse, and sung from memory or improvised in performance by professional performers with instrumental accompaniment. These narratives are created from traditional elements, commonly without recourse to writing, by poets whose names are often unknown to us. Among the famous traditional epics are the Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed to Homer; the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf; and the Old French Song of Roland. Many known poets adopt epic forms and themes for their literary verse (such as Virgil in his Aeneid).

About the edition/translation:
Text written by Theodora Skipitares (based on the Iliad, Euripides’ Helen, and other classical texts); music and sound design by Tim Schellenbaum.

About the performer/ensemble:
Theodora Skipitares is a visual artist and theater director who examines social and historical themes using many types of puppet figures. These puppets are the “performers” in large-scale works that include live music, film, video, and documentary texts. Among her works are “Age of Invention,” an examination of three centuries of American invention featuring 300 puppets, and “Optic Fever,” an exploration of Renaissance artists and their new way of seeing. The performers are collaborators of Theodora Skipitares.

About the production:
This video is an abridged version of a film made during a performance of Helen Queen of Sparta at La Mama Theatre in New York in February 2003. The video was produced by Kay Hines.

Orfeo: Opening scenes

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About the scene and clip:
The solo performer recounts and acts out the opening section of the tale of Sir Orfeo: the hero, a master harper, appears; and his wife, the beauteous Heurodis, while napping on the grass, suddenly has a mysterious frenzy (we discover later that she has just received an unwelcome summons from fairyland).

About the work:
Sir Orfeo is a Middle English tale, composed in rhymed couplets, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century. The story is an adaptation—and in important respects a transformation—of an ancient story. In the classical myth, Eurydice, beloved wife of the great harp-player Orpheus, dies; the grieving Orpheus goes down to Hades to win her back by playing his harp for the gods of the underworld. They agree to give her back to him—on condition that he must not look back as he leads her away. But, at the last moment, having looked back to make sure she was following, he loses her forever, and he must return home alone. In the Middle English story, Sir Orfeo is a king and a master harper, whose wife, Heurodis, is snatched away and taken off to fairyland. Orfeo follows, disguised as a minstrel, and manages to find her. The king of “Faërie” is so taken with Orfeo’s harp-playing that he promises to give him any reward—and Orfeo asks for Heurodis. This Orpheus (unlike his classical namesake) succeeds in bringing his wife back home—to great rejoicing and minstrelsy. The couple live happily ever after (or, more precisely: “long they lived, till they were dead”). Harpers were inspired by the story to compose beautiful lays in honor of the lovers.

A related clip on this website is “King Orfeo: Sung,” which is taken from another medieval English version of the story of Orpheus–an early ballad.”

About the genre:
A narrative lai is a short poetic tale composed in verse, which may claim to have a Breton original with harp accompaniment. The 12th-century Anglo-Norman woman poet Marie de France is the best known author of lais in French, and may be one of the creators of the genre.

About the edition/translation:
Sir Orfeo, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo, tr. J.J.R. Tolkien, New York, Ballantine, 1980, pp. 169ff. Original text: Sir Orfeo, ed. A.J. Bliss, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 1966.

About the performer/ensemble:
Nick Spangler is a Drama student in the CAP21 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.

Rose: Narcissus and Echo-puppets

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About the scene and clip:
The solo performer tells through shadow puppets, and with recorded music, the story of Narcissus and Echo. This story, taken from classical myth, is written on the Fountain.

About the work:
The Romance of the Rose is arguably the most influential French work of the Middle Ages. This work is a romance, composed in verse and treating of love. But it is a highly unusual romance in many regards. The Rose introduced into romance a set of major allegorical figures such as Love, Reason, and Danger; it established the popularity of the dream vision; and it launched a new fashion in pseudo-autobiographical narrative. The first 4000 lines (in octosyllabic rhymed couplets) were written by Guillaume de Lorris around 1230. This strongly lyrical part of the romance emphasizes the beauty of the Garden of Love, and the suffering by the Lover in his quest for love; Guillaume’s romance was left unfinished. Around 1280, Jean de Meun completed the work by adding close to 18,000 lines; his lengthy and learned text features speeches delivered by such characters as Reason, the Jealous Husband, the Old Woman, Nature, and Genius.

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.

Allegory is a way of composing and of interpreting texts: characters and the plot point beyond themselves to something “other”—something symbolic. Characters are often personifications of forces such as Love, Pride, Reason, or Friendship. The plot is also symbolic: characters’ struggles are between vices and virtues; their journey may refer to life’s pilgrimage or to the discovery of some great truth, such as the nature of love. Works may be entirely allegorical, or may just contain brief passages written in this mode. Allegorical works are often strongly religious, philosophical, or moral.

About the edition/translation:
Performance abridged from The Romance of the Rose, Harry W. Robbins trans., New York, Dutton, 1962, pp. 29ff; French edition: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la Rose, ed./[Modern French] trans. Armand Strubel, Paris, Lettres Gothiques, 1992.

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 “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz, in fall 2005. Nitzan Rotschild was the videographer.

Rose: Narcissus and Echo-comic handling

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About the scene and clip:
Two performers recount and act out the story of Narcissus and Echo, which comes from classical myth and is written on the Fountain. They perform the scene in comic fashion, taking turns with the roles, and using costumes, props, much stage business, and recorded music.

About the work:
The Romance of the Rose is arguably the most influential French work of the Middle Ages. This work is a romance, composed in verse and treating of love. But it is a highly unusual romance in many regards. The Rose introduced into romance a set of major allegorical figures such as Love, Reason, and Danger; it established the popularity of the dream vision; and it launched a new fashion in pseudo-autobiographical narrative. The first 4000 lines (in octosyllabic rhymed couplets) were written by Guillaume de Lorris around 1230. This strongly lyrical part of the romance emphasizes the beauty of the Garden of Love, and the suffering by the Lover in his quest for love; Guillaume’s romance was left unfinished. Around 1280, Jean de Meun completed the work by adding close to 18,000 lines; his lengthy and learned text features speeches delivered by such characters as Reason, the Jealous Husband, the Old Woman, Nature, and Genius.

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 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.

Allegory is a way of composing and of interpreting texts: characters and the plot point beyond themselves to something “other”—something symbolic. Characters are often personifications of forces such as Love, Pride, Reason, or Friendship. The plot is also symbolic: characters’ struggles are between vices and virtues; their journey may refer to life’s pilgrimage or to the discovery of some great truth, such as the nature of love. Works may be entirely allegorical, or may just contain brief passages written in this mode. Allegorical works are often strongly religious, philosophical, or moral.

About the edition/translation:
Performance abridged from The Romance of the Rose, Harry W. Robbins trans., New York, Dutton, 1962, pp. 29ff; French edition: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la Rose, ed./[Modern French] trans. Armand Strubel, Paris, Lettres Gothiques, 1992.

About the performer/ensemble:
Andrew Cristi and Danny Schmittler are Drama students in the CAP 21 Studio at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz, in fall 2005. Nitzan Rotschild was the videographer.

Rose: Venus persuades Fair Welcome to kiss Lover

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About the scene and clip:
The solo performer, acing as storyteller, also impersonates first the character of Venus, who tells Fair Welcome that she really should kiss the Lover; then that of the Lover who receives the kiss.

About the work:
The Romance of the Rose is arguably the most influential French work of the Middle Ages. This work is a romance, composed in verse and treating of love. But it is a highly unusual romance in many regards.The Rose introduced into romance a set of major allegorical figures such as Love, Reason, and Danger; it established the popularity of the dream vision; and it launched a new fashion in pseudo-autobiographical narrative. The first 4000 lines (in octosyllabic rhymed couplets) were written by Guillaume de Lorris around 1230. This strongly lyrical part of the romance emphasizes the beauty of the Garden of Love, and the suffering by the Lover in his quest for love; Guillaume’s romance was left unfinished. Around 1280, Jean de Meun completed the work by adding close to 18,000 lines; his lengthy and learned text features speeches delivered by such characters as Reason, the Jealous Husband, the Old Woman, Nature, and Genius.

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.

Allegory is a way of composing and of interpreting texts: characters and the plot point beyond themselves to something “other”—something symbolic. Characters are often personifications of forces such as Love, Pride, Reason, or Friendship. The plot is also symbolic: characters’ struggles are between vices and virtues; their journey may refer to life’s pilgrimage or to the discovery of some great truth, such as the nature of love. Works may be entirely allegorical, or may just contain brief passages written in this mode. Allegorical works are often strongly religious, philosophical, or moral.

About the edition/translation:
Performance abridged from The Romance of the Rose, Harry W. Robbins trans., New York, Dutton, 1962, pp. 75ff.; French edition: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la Rose, ed./[Modern French] trans. Armand Strubel, Paris, Lettres Gothiques, 1992, ll. 3518ff.

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 “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz, in fall 2005. Nathan Rotschild was the videographer.

Aristotle: Aristotle’s come-uppance

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About the scene and clip:
In this clip four performers act out how Alexander the Great’s beautiful Indian mistress teaches a lesson about the irresistibility of love to the philosopher Aristotle.

About the work:
The title of this fabliau—The Lay of Aristotle—probably suggests its relatively courtly style. It tells how Alexander the Great falls in love with a beautiful Indian woman and neglects his kingly duties. His tutor, the philosopher Aristotle, reproaches him for the affair and Alexander agrees to break with her. But unable to stay away, he reveals his problem to her. Determined to have revenge on Aristotle, she sets out to seduce him, and she succeeds in making him fall in love and play the fool for her: she rides around the field on his back as though he were an ass—while Alexander is a witness to Aristotle’s humiliation. Was Aristotle right, or wrong, to warn Alexander against Love?

About the genre:
Fabliaux are short comic tales. This narrative genre was extremely popular in the 13th and 14th centuries in France and elsewhere in Europe (Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale is a sophisticated fabliau). Fabliaux almost invariably deal with the passions of lust, gluttony, avarice–and with attempts to trick or deceive others. Characters are typically bourgeois, clerks and monks, or peasants–and often women. The treatment is comic or satirical, but fabliaux vary considerably. Some are extremely vulgar in language and treatment, inviting crude gestures in performance. Other fabliaux are based on puns or wordplay. Many have a moral at the end and some have ethical overtones throughout. A few fabliaux are refined and courtly in language and themes. Many fabliaux are anonymous, but a few are by known poets. Performance styles and strategies for the fabliaux probably varied considerably in the Middle Ages, according to the subject matter and characters, the poet, the performer(s), the occasion, and the kind of audience present.

About the edition/translation:
Abridged from Gallic Salt, ed./trans Robert L. Harrison, Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 1974, pp. 268-289.

About the performer/ensemble:
Amanda Guillett is a Drama student in the CAP 21 Studio at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2004). Alexander Sarian is a student in Educational Theatre at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education (2004). Jak Peters is a Drama student in the Meisner Studio at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2004). Michael Ritchie is a PhD student in the French Department at New York University; he served as Teaching Assistant in “Acting Medieval Literature” (2004).

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 2004. It took place in May 2004 in the Great Hall of 19 University Place at New York University, at a public gathering of medievalists held under the auspices of the Colloquium for Orality, Writing and Culture, co-convenors Prof. Nancy Freeman Regalado and Prof. Vitz. The performance was videoed by NYU-TV.