6.54 The Origins of Medieval Theatre: A Conversation with Kyle Thomas

Main ideas / concepts conveyed

• The transition from Roman late antique theater to medieval theater is not a clean “rise” after a clear break. Instead, theatricality and drama shift gradually and take new forms across centuries.
• “Periodization” (splitting history into discrete eras) is useful for historians, but in theater terms it can be misleading because:
  • formal stage drama and theater spectacle decline,
  • while “drama” (dramatic qualities, dialogue, story-shaping, emotional audience impact) continues in literature and education,
  • and theatricality persists as performance culture elsewhere (e.g., street/itinerant performance).
• Christian critiques in late antiquity target spectacle and theater-as-pagan spectacle, not drama itself.
  • Augustine and John Chrysostom (and others) oppose theater/spectacle (ludi, large venues, moral/spiritual harm).
  • This contributes to the decline of large-scale Roman-style theater, but does not eliminate dramatic literature or dramatic thinking.
• Manuscripts and education centers (especially monasteries) are key engines of continuity and transformation.
  • Monasteries function as imitation-based learning environments (imitating good exemplars, including spiritual and educational models).
  • Roman comedies and classical texts remain read, copied, studied, and used for instruction.
  • The monastery’s ritual life and classroom-like learning create conditions where dramatic forms thrive.
• Liturgy and drama influence each other, but “liturgy-as-theater” must be handled carefully.
  • Liturgy develops dialogic and performative elements.
  • However, the speaker argues for a distinction:
    • Liturgy can have theatrical qualities, but it is not necessarily “theater” (its purpose is worship and access to the divine, not entertainment).
• A major historiographical correction: don’t skip individual figures, especially women like Hrosvitha (Roswitha).
  • The conventional narrative often overemphasizes liturgical drama as the origin of later medieval theater.
  • The speaker argues that education, monastic theatrical culture, and marginalized individuals must be centered.

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Method / reasoning approach (as presented)

• Start by mapping what “early medieval dramatic world” looks like in practice
  • itinerant performances and minstrel-like activity
  • courtly performance records
  • coexistence of formal large theaters in some places and decline elsewhere
• Identify what declines vs. what persists
  • Declines:
    • formal Roman-style playwriting and large-scale theater spectacle
    • the economic and civic sponsorship structures that sustained spectacle
  • Persists / transforms:
    • dramatic thinking (dialogue, character-focused narrative, emotional effects)
    • performance-like theatricality in other settings
• Separate “theater/spectacle” from “drama”
  • Christian writers attack spectacle-theater (including ludi and venue-based performance)
  • but dramatic narrative and dialogic modes continue and even become more important in education
• Use manuscript evidence and educational texts
  • emphasis on copying traditions, marginalia/illustrations, and how texts are embedded in larger manuscript contexts
• Question the origin narrative
  • treat “liturgical drama as the seed” skeptically
  • propose broader causal networks: monastic schooling, imitation practices, and evolving literary forms

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Detailed list of instructional / “how it works” claims (with examples)

1) What defines the “early medieval theatrical landscape” (6th–early 12th centuries)

• The period is typically framed as ~6th century to very early 12th century.
• In this world:
  • itinerant performance and performers appear widely
  • some courts record comic/slapstick or improvisational styles
  • imperial structures weaken, but performance culture shifts rather than disappears

Examples mentioned:

• Sidonius Apollinaris (5th c.) describing comic actors at the court of Theodoric the Visigoth, which he considers beneath the king.
• A later Carolingian-period warning figure: Aelred/Alcuin of York (referred to in the subtitles as “Carol(i)an court here Alang of York”), warning against performers in monasteries/churches.

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2) Why Roman-style formal theater declines (but doesn’t erase drama)

• Religious pressure:
  • Augustine and John Chrysostom criticize theater/spectacle as pagan, spiritually corrupting.
  • important distinction: they are targeting spectacle/theater (ludi) rather than “drama” as a narrative/dialectical mode.
• Economic/civic decline:
  • fewer wealthy patrons (senators/civic leaders) fund performances.
• Creative shift:
  • fewer new plays get written after earlier centuries; existing works and their characters move into other performance/production models.

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3) What keeps “drama alive” in early medieval culture

• Drama survives in literature and educational/poetic dialogic forms (even if not in the form of performed stage scripts).
• Key example: Prudentius’ “Psychomachia” (subtitled as “psycho makia”)
  • allegorical “battle of the soul”
  • Christian virtues vs. negative forces (including “old gods”/pagan allegories)
  • medieval scribes copy it and add illustrations that “stage” the conflict visually
  • no direct evidence is claimed that it was necessarily performed theatrically, but it demonstrates dramatic qualities embedded in manuscript culture.

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4) How monastic life fosters theatricality

• The monastery is an imitation system:
  • Benedict’s Rule describes imitation from abbots down through the community as lifelong formation.
• Monasteries:
  • copy and teach Roman comedies (Terence/Platus/others)
  • use dramatic/classical learning for Latin instruction and rhetorical training
  • produce literary works with staged/debatable/character-driven structures

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5) How liturgy becomes “dramatic,” and what the speaker cautions

• Liturgy develops call-and-response patterns that resemble rudimentary acting structures.
• The speaker argues:
  • liturgy (worship ritual) ≠ theater (entertainment/performance for spectators)
  • dialogic liturgy forms (example: Easter-season “Whom do you seek?” exchange) should be understood primarily as worship, not as entertainment.
• Also noted:
  • the term “liturgy” is said not to appear until much later (early modern period; earliest attribution in the 16th century in subtitles)—meaning the medieval period may not self-consciously label worship forms the way later scholarship does.

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6) Example of prayer-book material that has “staged” qualities: the “Harrowing of Hell”

• In an early prayer manuscript (Book of Cerne / “book of CERN” as transcribed), the “Harrowing of Hell” section:
  • is instructive and framed for prayer
  • includes dialogue-like structure (Adam/Eve, underworld forces, Christ’s triumph)
  • functions within ritual/private devotional use
  • shows how dramatic forms can appear inside devotional contexts.

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7) The educational-historiography claim about origins of medieval theater

• The speaker argues against a narrow model that directly derives cycle plays mainly from liturgical drama.
• Instead, they emphasize:
  • broader educational threads (monastic classroom culture)
  • individual innovators (especially marginalized women)
  • “theatrical impetus” rising within monastic individuals

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8) Central case study: Hrosvitha (Roswitha)

• Identified as the 10th-century German canoness at Gandersheim.

• Key biographical points in subtitles:

  • canoness = not taking holy orders in the same way as cloistered nuns; likely noble Saxon birth
  • connections to court culture: abbess Gerberga (Gberga) and ties to Emperor Otto the Great
  • scholarly claim that she likely knew Bruno (Bruno the Great; described as Otto’s youngest brother)

• Her plays’ sources and methods:

  • Roman comedy form (Terence/Platus structures, problem-resolution arcs)
  • hagiography (saints’ lives) integrated as story material and recognizable Christian references
  • incorporation of Boethius (e.g., arithmetic and music theory from De Institutione Arithmetica and De Musica) into dialogue and classroom-like debate

• Specific plays mentioned:

  • “Paphnutius”:
    • saint teaches disciples about cosmos; framed like a teacher/disciples classroom
    • music theory and arithmetic reasoning inserted into dialogue
  • “Sapientia”:
    • figure of Wisdom with allegorical daughters (Charity, Faith, Hope)
    • debate with emperor (Hadrian) demanding worship of pagan gods

• Manuscript influence:

  • only one manuscript survives, associated with St. Emam in Vensborg (spelled variously)
  • described as an influential monastery focused on teacher training; suggests educational impact beyond surviving copies.

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9) Bruno and theatrical performance as education

• Bruno (Bruno the Great, not the Carthusian Bruno) is presented as:
  • a patron/enthusiast of theater and drama
  • associated with Cologne’s power centers (including St. Pantaleon context in subtitles)
  • connected to the spread of training that produces theatrical performers/educators
• A later figure at a Bavarian monastery (Folan/Foland in subtitles):
  • uses performance and wild sound/gestures as teaching tools
  • argues such performance engages students and improves spiritual experience

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10) Shift into the 12th century (scholasticism and “explosions” in drama)

• Rise of scholasticism → fuels dramatic and poetic literature.
• Mentions “12th-century renaissance” with increased dramatic writing and play circulation.
• Mentions rude/uncou/sometimes transgressive “elegiac comedies”:
  • misogynistic and anti-semitic (noted as a significant modern moral concern)
  • schoolboy-authored and modeled on Roman structures.

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11) Liturgies incorporated into later plays—but used theatrically/invertedly

• Example: “Ludus Antichrist” (play about the Antichrist)
  • contains multiple liturgies (4 are mentioned)
  • not presented as liturgical drama meant for worship context
  • liturgies appear in disconnected ways and are “performed backwards,” signaling inverted/false authority of Antichrist
  • liturgical material becomes recognizable theatrical coding for audiences (e.g., noticing “wrong way” to do the liturgy)
  • the point: later drama uses liturgy to create theatrical meaning, not to worship God.

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Main speakers/sources featured (identified)

People / speakers

• Kyle Thomas (guest; theater historian, actor, director, theater critic; professor/adjunct roles described)
• Host / narrator (“Welcome to the history of European theater podcast…”; the subtitle does not provide a clear name)

Historical figures / authors discussed

• Sidonius Apollinaris
• Theodoric the Visigoth
• Augustine (St. Augustine)
• John Chrysostom
• Isidore of Seville (mentioned via Etymologies)
• Terence
• Plautus
• Prudentius (for Psychomachia)
• Benedict of Nursia (St. Benedict) (Rule of St. Benedict)
• Alcuin / “Alang of York” (as transcribed; referenced as a warning figure in the Carolingian context)
• Boethius (music and arithmetic treatises: De Institutione Arithmetica and De Musica)
• Martianus Capella (mentioned via Marriage of Mercury and Philology)
• Hrosvitha / Roswitha (transcribed as “Feet/Herodvit”)
• Gerberga (abbess name as transcribed)
• Otto the Great (Emperor)
• Bruno the Great (Bruno of Cologne)
• Folan/Foland (teacher figure associated with theatrical performance pedagogy at a Bavarian monastery)
• Henry IV and Shakespeare (mentioned only in the podcast outro/teaser)

Works / texts referenced

• Psychomachia (Prudentius)
• Etymologies (Isidore of Seville)
• Classical Roman plays by Terence and Plautus
• Rule of St. Benedict
• Boethius: De Institutione Arithmetica; De Musica
• Martianus Capella: Marriage of Mercury and Philology
• Boethius: Consolation of Philosophy (mentioned)
• “Harrowing of Hell” (in early manuscript/prayer-book context)
• “Whom do you seek?” / Easter-season dialogic liturgy (mentioned)
• “Ludus Antichrist” / play about the Antichrist
• “Mystery plays” / cycle plays (discussed as later phenomenon)
• “elegiac comedies” (mentioned)

Institutions / publications referenced

• Missouri State University
• North Park University (Chicago)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art Cloisters (NYC) (production credit mentioned)
• Romard (journal)
• Discovery Channel’s Mysteries of the Abandoned Hidden America
• Podcast platform and social media (Facebook/Instagram/BlueSky/Patreon) are mentioned in the outro; not central to the academic content.