Journal of Catalan Studies/Revista Internacional de Catalanisme


[Ressenyes / Reviews]

Teatro medieval, teatro vivo: Actas del V Seminario de teatro y música medievales de Elx
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SIRERA, Josep Lluís, ed., 2001. Teatro medieval, teatro vivo: Actas del V Seminario de teatro y música medievales de Elx (Elx: Institut Municipal de Cultura).
Jan Gilbert
Clare Hall
University of Cambridge
jg208@cam.ac.uk

Teatro medieval, teatro vivo gathers together the proceedings from the fifth of the biennial research colloquia that take place in conjunction with Elx's festival of medieval theatre and music. This volume contains seventeen papers and once again proves that this series is indispensable for both researchers and students of medieval theatre and music in the Peninsula.

Continuing and expanding on the work of the fourth colloquium (see above), this volume strives to highlight the magnitude and vitality of medieval theatre by focusing closely on the profound influence that it has exerted on the post-medieval world. The dialogue between the pre-modern and modern generations proves a fruitful source of inspiration with a fascinating array of papers which confirm the value of an interdisciplinary approach to the subject.

The early modern period is the focus of studies by Teresa J. Kirschner and Dolores Clavero, as well as Susana Hernández Araico; Kirschner and Clavero offer an interesting reading of the medieval aspects of Lope de Vega's Las almenas de Toro and Hernández Araico examines Sybil plays in sixteenth-century religious theatre. Portuguese, Galician and Basque theatre are analysed respectively by María Idalina Resina Rodrigues, Margarita Santos Zas and Patricio Urkizu. Resina Rodrigues explores the continuing impact of Gil Vicente's work on Portuguese theatre through to the present day. Aspects of medieval inspiration in Galician drama, including Ramón del Valle Inclán's work are traced by Santos Zas, while the survival and most recent studies of Basque farsas and misterios are considered by Urkizu. Ferran Huerta Viñas investigates the methods and difficulties of studying medieval Catalan theatre. The Misteri is discussed by Joan Castaño i García and Gabriel Sansano i Belso, whose work provides a sound survey of the area as well indicating exciting paths for future research, and by Maricarmen Gómez Muntané, who focuses on changes in the singing of the Misteri and brings the reader up-to-date with general research on music and its links with theatre. It is from a historical perspective that civic festivities are analysed by Rafael Narbona Vizcaíno, concentrating on their sociological and ideological significance, while Manuel Oliver Narbona considers, from an anthropological position, the medieval characteristics of various types of performance that take place during Moros y Cristianos festivities. José María Vives Ramiro provides an interesting insight into the mise en scène of the Visitatio Sepulchri in Gandia. Federico Doglio reflects on the religious and theatrical facets of Castellano Castellani's Representación de la conversión de María Magdalena y resurreción de Lázaro.

An interesting and fitting addition to the fifth colloquium is the introduction of a tribute to a researcher whose contribution to this field has not only been of great significance but who has also maintained close links with the colloquium, festival and Misteri. In fact it was two scholars who were chosen to be the first recipients of this honour: Josep Romeu i Figueras and Alfredo Hermenegildo, whose respective papers on medieval Catalan theatre and the Misteri opened and closed this year's proceedings. Francesc Massip, Josep Lluís Sirera and César Oliva, in their own contributions, pay homage to these two important figures in the world of Catalan and Castilian theatre scholarship.