PIctures

 I really like this first picture, its a very medieval portrait of the representation of Adam and Eve and Eve taking an apple from the tree of Knowledge of good and evil. but I mostly enjoy the representation of Satan, he isn't quite a snake but more of a reptile. Though Costume-wise it doesn't leaves much room to decide how to clothe the actors without offending the faint of hearted.

This second picture is an awesome view of how the pageant cars worked, the audience circling around the stage. words can not really describe how intriguing it is to see the re-inactments of these events, so that people of the modern day can witness what the events of the past.








This last picture is my favorite out of all three of my pictures that I've found. the tree that God creates and tells Adam and Eve to not eat from is called the tree of knowledge of life and death (good and evil) and to have the tree made out of a skeleton is just a revolutionary idea, it makes people think more about how this tree was influential, because I believe that people really over look the tree.

ORO

So I did a little more in depth research on York Cycle plays and Oxford Referance Online pointed me to Mystery Plays which I thought was an interesting name choice, since they aren't very mystery like. But they were basically religious plays that were in vernacular (which means the common language, instead of all in Latin). The york plays or mystery plays could also be named Bible-histories as they were all stories right out of the Bible, almost as if they were like educational children's shows on the television set.
Below I've inserted the excerpt from ORO.


Mystery Play,   medieval religious play which derives from liturgical drama, but differs in being wholly or partly in the vernacular and not chanted but spoken. Also it was performed out of doors—in front of the church, in the market square, or on perambulating pageants. The earlier English name for it was miracle play, now seldom used, and a better name would be Bible-histories, since each play was really a cycle of plays based on the Bible, from the Creation to the Second Coming. Substantial texts of English ‘cycles’ of such plays have survived from Chester, Coventry, Lincoln, Wakefield, and York. Simultaneously with the English mystery play there arose in Europe, in the vernacular, the French mystère, the German Mysterienspiel, the Italian sacra rappresentazione, and the Spanish auto sacramental, to name only the most important. Traces of similar plays are found in Russia, in the states of Central Europe, and also in Denmark.

"Mystery Play"  The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Ed. Phyllis Hartnoll and Peter Found. Oxford University Press, 1996. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Central Washington University.  8 December 2010  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t79.e2154>

Monograph

Christian humanism in the late English morality plays
By Dorothy H. Brown

This monograph is rather long but let me try to summarize it up for everyone.

Dorothy writes this book to help show how the late morality plays provide an exquisite way to teach ideas of education, religion, politics, and personal morality to a very diverse education. The morality plays had a lot of influence of daily activities to help bring the plays to realism. it also then goes into how from the morality plays the English theatre grew and in what ways.

the link that I have for everyone to follow is:
http://books.google.com/books?id=QH-dfBod0R8C&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=Song+in+Morality+Plays+and+Interludes&source=bl&ots=9PmSMUWYVw&sig=9eXWqCZfIgFFhao6zeOfeuDbQTc&hl=en&ei=vf79TNPtLozEsAP8xbGwCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Song%20in%20Morality%20Plays%20and%20Interludes&f=false

This is a Google Book and you should be able to read the whole book.

Video

So There's a few different plays of "The Creation of Adam and Eve", but I found the video above, and I'm all about having a good laugh at things and this video really captures what you need to know along with throwing a few curveballs and bundles of laughter. Below is a more informative video of the true stories of Adam and Eve and how the story doesn't fit very well in the bible, but gets you to know a little bit more about what is going on in that time.

Primary Document

for my primary document, I am using the Bible, though the Bible is an unciteable source, it still is important to see where this play's plot has originated.

I'm using the King James version of the Bible, and I say which version because there's like eight (Hyperbole) different versions of the Bible, so I want to try to cite my source for you as best as possible.

In King James The story of Adam and Eve is in the Book of Genesis Chapter 1:26 through 3:24
, and from the looks of the actual written story, the play is a near exact replication of the Bible chapters. Though in the Bible verses it talks more about the complete creation of the universe, but mostly just Earth, finishing up with the creation of Adam and Eve.


A website that I found that has the exact chapter and verses of the King James Version of the Bible is
http://www.dltk-bible.com/genesis/chapter2-kjv.htm

Scholarly Article

The reason that I'm using this Scholarly Article is because it talks a lot about how the plays during advent, the weeks leading up to Christmas, were very religious, which also happens to be the main theme for York Plays. And I believe that they somehow have a wild connection in the sense that the York Plays may have flourished during advent. And though the York plays were most likely NOT performed in the small northern French town Laon. The town could of used the York Plays as inspiration, because Laon's advent is significantly altered versions of other towns works. they revamped the advent calendar to make a more proficient schedule and their plays were something to behold.

Sermons, Exegesis, and Performance: The Laon Ordo Prophetarum and the Meaning of Advent.Full Text Available By: LAGUEUX, ROBERT C.. Comparative Drama, Summer2009, Vol. 43 Issue 2, p197-220, 24p

MEDIEVAL BLOG

So now onto a new section for our class. We've wrapped up Greek Theatre and now we are onto Medieval Theatre. I'm putting my focus on thia Dramaturgy blog section on a York Cycle play titled : "The Cardmakers' Play: The Creation of Adam and Eve".

Let me begin with why the play's title has the words "The Cardmakers'" in it. Back in the day, pre-1500's to be precise, the theatre was poorly funded and the stuff that was funded was through the church, which not to bash on churches but when they funded the plays it just took all the fun out of them. So the town's guilds would sponsor theatre carts and have plays put on, but the catch was that the people who out the plays on had to represent the guilds VERY well, including having the guilds crest put on the front of the stage so that everyone who went to see the play knew which guild sponsored them.

So this play is pretty simple and only consists of 3 Characters:
God: An Omnisious Being that has the Power to create and destroy things.
Adam: the first man to be created from Dirt
Eve: the first woman to be created from dirt and one of man's ribs.

The play is pretty basic as were most of the plays of this time.
It starts of with God talking about his wonderufl creation (Earth) then he makes the animals and Man (Adam), but Adam is lonely all by himself, so God makes Eve out of Adam's left rib. The play soon after ends with God saying how he made the the earth how it was in 6 days and going onto the 7th day he was tired so he was going to take a rest.

and now for the main attraction ladies and gents. my Dramaturgy Blog on Medieval theatre

Images of Ajax

I'm adding these pictures into my reasearch because i dont feel they necessarily go with any research that i've stumbled upon but I get this feeling that they really belong with the play and can help people get into the play and help them understand maybe a little more of what this world of madness is suppose to be like.
1.) Random greek painting of Ajax

2.)Death of Ajax, 1820 Serrur
















3.)Theatre of Dionysus, where it has been said the first performace of Sophocles' Ajax was performed.

4.)Statue of Sophocles' head

Inspirational videos

Here's a few videos I've found of different Theatre groups with Ajax some really interesting staging ideas as well as costume and scenery.I tried embeding them like my other video but for some reason these ones are just showing up as the whole HTML code and not the actual video so you can watch it on here... but the links are posted so you can copy and paste them and you can see what I am looking at and what nots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BibJonn3Y3E&feature=player_embedded

I particularly like this video because not only does it show some neat staging and costuming, but it looks into the stands alittle and kinda shows you what and where the audience is sitting, it also shows you it's outside. possibility when putting Ajax on to give the audience a  more realistic feel that what is going on in front of them might actually be real?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o0D-qNkeDQ&feature=player_embedded

I really like the costuming ideas and music for this video though I really could use a German translator to know what part of the play they are doing when they actually talk in the video to kinda see if this might be an interesting turn of scenery from the traditional greek stage setting.

Classical Greek theatre: New views of an old subject

Clifford Ashby, goes into depth about the Greek Theatre and how we can only take what we know or think we know and really make it something of our own. in Chapter 2 "the limits of eviendce; Physical remains" he talks about how even though we have dug up ancient theatres those theatres were altered by late greeks and early roman rulers. so we could never truly know what was what, and what belonged to who. but Ashby, I feel, encourages us to really grasp what we have seen and take the essence with us and really dig deep and get our fingernails dirty, trying to recreate whatever it is that our minds set us to do with these things.

Biboliography:
University of Iowa Press 1999 "Classical Greek theatre: New views of an old subject", Clifford Ashby

This is my Monograph source.

what's a Monograph?

 I'd like to educate the public reader on what a monograph is, because in "The Information- Literate Historian" by: Jenny L. Presnell, she doesn't quiet give a clear example I felt that she took what she wrote for primary document and put it where monograph was as well... Monograph's can all be primary documents but not all primary documents can be monographs, here's 4 easy things to look for when looking for a MONOGRAPH:

• One-volume work
• Gives in-depth treatment to a specialized subject
• Written by a scholar in the field
•       Usually published by a university and not a normal publishing company
• Written mainly for an academic audience
•        They will ALWAYS have an intense Bibliography. 

Bibliography:
http://www.library.illinois.edu/learn/tutorials/monograph.html

Sophocles' Ajax as staged by the English Theatre

There have been multiple showings in the English theatre dating far back in history. surprisingly they were NEVER a success, either due to being banned for being too out there, or just the means of no one being interested. Though Ajax really does allow us to see into what anger is, and really gives us a true experience to watch it play out.

Though in 1605 Inigo Jones, a famous theatre architect, put together a performance of Ajax for the King and Queen, and it did well, though the Queen cried to be faint at some point, it was still a success, had it something to do with working with greek translation into modern language, the scene, or even the costumes? it is un clear but what was clear is that something he did worked and he did it well.

I believe studying into Inigo Jones would be quiet profiecent in my studies of Ajax as it seems that his rendition of the play seemed to work so well.

Biboliography:
By: Sarah Knight
"‘Goodlie anticke apparrell’?:
Sophocles’ Ajax at Early Modern
Oxford and Cambridge"
57. Sophocles, A ας, 46–47.
58. G. Zanker, ‘‘Sophocles’ Ajax and the Heroic Values of the Iliad,’’ Classical
Quarterly, n.s., 42, no. 1 (1992): 20–25. (20, 21).

Sophocles- Musician and Dancer

Sophocles wasn't just a writer he was also every good in other art forms as well, mostly in dance and music. He studied under Lamprus.

( who was married to Galateia,and according to Greek Mythology he ordered her to kill any child she bared that wasn't a son... go to find out she had a girl and hid it from her husband... but as all the stories go he eventually found out, threatened to kill the child, but the gods helped hide the child and they all lived happily ever after, or in Greek times lived happily ever until someone else wrote another story with them in it. :) )

But Sophocles danced to the sound of his own Lyre ( a 4 stringed musical instrument), either naked or with just a cloak on. apparently he even played a little ball game quiet well too. Sophocles was a true well rounded individual.

Biboliography:
Excerpt found in Source Book in Theatrical History page 7 section 4. Excerpt from Athenaeus' Deipnosophistai  establishes Sophocles' (ca 495 B.C.-- 406 B.C.) proficiency in both arts.

http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/G/Galateia.html

Atehna Greek Goddess

Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom. She is usually noted to have a pet owl that perches on her shoulder. She was also noted as the goddess warrior as she helped many greek heroes in their quests to victory such as Hercules, Odysseus, and Jason.
Athena is the favorite daughter of Zeus who was supposedly born from his forehead... don't trust me look it up, it's on the link in the bibliography promises.

Biboliography:
http://www.crystalinks.com/athena.html

Troy (modern day Turkey) Landscape

 Turkey, the supposedly rumored "Troy" fits Homer and Plato's descriptions very well. Mountainous and right next to the ocean. the Eco-system is vast with influences from Asia and Africa as well as the surrounding Mediterranean countries. Turkey is a beautiful place that really encompasses the feel for where Ajax should be located.

Biboliography:
http://www.focusmm.com/trgn0002.htm

Warrior Clothing

Ancient Greek general clothing consisted of just a tunic with leather sandals, but warrior attire was completely different. Their outfits consisted of metal and chain-mail. They also had helmets with horse hair crest to make the warriors look taller and fiercer looking then they actually were. Their armor was not the best suited as in today's times as they only wore a chain-mail tunic bottom leaving their legs vulnerable and most likely had open spots on their chest pieces and they didn't have the technology to make sufficient working chest pieces like they did in mid evil times.

Biboliography:

http://www.fashion-era.com/ancient_costume/ancient-greek-dress-chiton.htm

http://www.fashion-era.com/ancient_costume/ancient-greek-mens-dress.htm

Troy really Atlantis?

I wanted to do a little more research on what exactly this place Troy is. In this video at 2:55 you should start it talks about how Homer's Odyssey and Plato's Story are talking about the same place Plato calls it Atlantis and Homer calls it Troy. They both talk about the armies and they are almost just alike, and the weaponry is talked about exactly alike. This gives me more evidence that Troy is really located on the west cost of Modern day Turkey. Also helps assist in the location of which most research should be done on to really know what Troy was like in 440 B.C.E.

It's also interesting to hear how Plato and Homer wrote during the same time period about atlantis and Troy, and they ask the question once Plato found out that Homer was writing about the same place that maybe Plato decided to stop writing about Atlantis... Plato continued to write books but never mentioned Atlantis ever again.

AJAX by Sophocles

Ajax, begins in the city of Troy, which I've always heard about but never actually known where it is on the map. I tried looking on my globe and I couldn't find it, I was so confused, but then I thought to use the internet for some help. I searched on Oxford Reference Online and found some interesting facts about this place called Troy.

      "Turkey: ruins, the site now being called Hisarlík. The name is said to come from Troas,a legendary founder. He had three sons, one of which was Ilus from whom the city's alternative name came: in Greek Ilios or Ilion, and in Latin Ilium. Archaeological evidence has revealed nine main levels of habitation, sometimes misleadingly called cities, with Troy IX being the Ilium Novum of Hellenistic and Roman times." (O.R.O.)

 I wanna kinda go over who these characters are in the play and help you get a feel for who they are and why they are so important as to write a play about them before I get into too much detail.

Ajax: Also known as the "Lesser" Ajax who was shipwrecked by Athena for raping Cassandra (a prophet)

ATHENA : The Goddess of War, Wisdom, and Patroness
ODYSSEUS: King of Ithaca, also known from Homer's Odyssey 
CHORUS OF SALAMINIANS: The people who kinda of fill the audience in on what is going on in case someone doesn't know.
TECMESSA: concubine of AJAX: (Concubine: AKA Mistress.)
MESSENGER: ok if you dont get this one I'm sorry. he's a messenger...
TEUCER: half-brother of AJAX
MENELAUS: King of Sparta
AGAMEMNON: king of Mycenae , commander-in-chief of the Greek expedition against Troy
Mute Persons
EURYSACES: child of AJAX and TECMESSA
Attendants, Heralds, etc.

Summary of Play: 

.        So to fill you in from the very begining as with all Greek plays, there's a ton of them so the story kind goes like this... The Play is set near the end of the Trojan War, Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, lies dead after being shot by a Trojan arrow guided by Apollo mortally wounds him. Ajax, the second-greatest Greek warrior in battlefield, expects to get this amazing awesome prize of prizes, Achilles' armor. Which was made by the blacksmith god Hephaestus. Instead what happens is Agamemnon and Menelaus award it to Odysseus.
........Ajax then becomes so enraged that he plots the murder of Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Menelaus at night. However,  Athena, decides totally destroy Ajax's plan. So to save him from Ajax, she casts a spell of insanity on Ajax. So Ajax has this wicked plan to totally destroy the three guys and instead kills a ton of sheep and then takes some captive to torture, not realizing too much that they are sheep...
........Now the play that I have starts with alittle bit of a (last time on Ajax) then continues with Sophocle's version. Ajax, who's still berserk from Athena's spell, is in his tent at Troy. His friends from Salamis enter with Tecmessa. As Ajax comes to his senses, he feels like a jerk, believing that he has ruined his reputation as a warrior and disgraced his family. 

        Before the chorus, he tells us how he wants to die (yada yada yada). Tecmessa and the Salamanians try to lessen his grief. When he addresses them, he seemingly lightens their fears. However, he then leaves the tent with the sword of Hector (some dead Trojan hero) and falls upon it, killing himself.Then  Agamemon and Menelaus want to leave his body un-buried  for animals to feed on, which in Greece leaving someone's body un-buried is like a slap in the face. But thankfully Odysses persaudes them to actually bury the body.   

Biboliography:

"Troy"  Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. John Everett-Heath. Oxford University Press 2010. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Central Washington University.  29 October 2010  http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t209.e7551

Hello

Hey ya'll this is my first Blog post, just a greet and meet. I wanna start off letting ya'll know that I'm a horrible writer and if you try to read my stuff and can't figure it out, I'm sure there's a comment box below the post and it allows you to communicate with me... so ASK QUESTIONS! the only dumb question you ask is the question that is never asked. I'm more then willing to try to explain something if I can, and as best as I can.