Final Project Assignment
Medieval Drama - Fall 2006
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The nature of the production project will vary
dramatically from one person to another. In effect, each of you will have the freedom to
develop your own project. On September 25, I would like to have a
one-page prospectus explaining what you intend to pursue for your project, how you intend
to go about that task, and how your project might inform our production.
For example, the person playing Merlin might write a paper on the literary history of that
character and how understanding that background could inform representation of Merlin in
this production. The person playing Silence might research medieval music performance, and
consider how understanding these conventions can make the performance more effective and
accurate. How can medieval ways of thinking be incorporated into the performance? What
attitude to women prevails in our text? One of the costumers might concentrate on the
costume for Silence, considering how clothing might best represent the original text
accurately and simultaneously evoke the appropriate response in a modern audience. How do
medieval costuming practices reflect medieval attitudes to theater? Two or three people
can work together on a particular aspect, pooling their reading and ideas. In this case
you would double or triple the length of the paper you turn in and your sources.
The production project paper is due on October 16. This paper should be a
4-6 page analysis of some aspect you are involved with in the production. The paper should
present a combination of the research you have done and your experience with that aspect
in the actual production. It would be best if you could use at least three solid sources
in the paper (not just the results of internet searches). Ideally you will create a
synthesis of the opinions and discoveries of scholars with your experiences and ideas.
Even if your ideas do not end up being implemented, you can still discuss them as options
that might have been part of our production.
Topic Suggestions
Here are some broad topics to get you started. You may use any of
these or change or combine them or use something completely different as you see fit. Do
not try to do more than is reasonable. Any of these ideas would need to be narrowed to a
manageable scope.
1. Analyze one of the characters in The Adventures of Silence. Consider the historical
background of that character. What is the scope of possible interpretations? What seems
most effective to you and why?
2. Consider the theme of conflict in Silence. What brings about conflict? How is conflict
expressed? How is it resolved? In what way does this play express ideas about conflict? In
what way might these ideas be relevant today? How can ideas foreign to our culture be
translated? How can they be productive in our community?
3. Is there some element in the original text of Silence that is not present in our
script, but you feel ought to be incorporated into our production? Give support for your
suggestion, perhaps drawing on secondary sources. Provide a revision of the relevant
passage in the script. Note that any changes that significantly increase the length will
not be possible to implement, though you can still discuss them.
4. The ending of Silence seems unsatisfying to modern readers, and there is evidence it
may have been intended to be an unhappy ending in the Middle Ages. How can a production
build around that ending? What meanings can be drawn, and how can it be made dramatically
satisfying?
5. Compare Silence with analogous medieval stories. What features distinguish our
thirteenth-century French story, setting it apart from contemporary stories? How might
those features be incorporated into our performance?
6. Scholars are divided about whether Le Roman de Silence is the work of a misogynist or a
proto-feminist. Which do you think is most accurate? How are attitudes to women expressed
directly or indirectly? How might these attitudes inform our production.
7. Consider how humor is involved in medieval performance. Examine variation in the nature
of the humor, and research the philosophy behind one type of humor. You might begin with
Ruggiers' book Versions of Medieval Comedy. Is humor a part of Le Roman de Silence? If so,
how might that humor be incorporated into our production?
