(originally published on www.stthomas.on.ca)
Toronto’s renowned medieval and Renaissance theatre company, Poculi Ludique Societas (PLS), is once again partnering with St. Thomas’s to celebrate “a Medieval Christmas.” On December 14 at 7 p.m. and on December 15 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., audiences have a rare chance to experience a 15th-century pageant with period music. Entitled Go We Hence to Bethlehem’s Bower, this year’s production will feature three plays from the N‑Town Nativity sequence. They represent a solemn celebration of the birth of Christ, but as director Kimberley Radmacher says, “there are still plenty of the shenanigans that lovers of medieval drama enjoy.”
I had an opportunity to interview the key people involved in the production, as well as an expert on the N‑Town Plays: Dr. Alexandra F. Johnston is a professor emerita of Victoria University, University of Toronto, and the founder and senior consultant of Records of Early English Drama (U of T). Linda Phillips of the PLS is the play’s artistic director, producer, production manager and costume designer; Kimberley Radmacher is the director. Associate priest Fr. Robert Mitchell serves as St. Thomas’s liaison and is one of the actors; and St. Thomas’s choir lead Bryan Martin is the show’s music director.
What are the N‑Town Plays and why do they have this name?
Dr. Alexandra Johnston: The plays in the N‑Town manuscript provide a wide variety of biblical drama. One of the “pieces” that make up the collection is a set of “banns.” Like wedding banns, this was a public announcement of something that was to happen in the future. The verses announce that a group of plays is to be played at “N‑Town” – literally Nomen, or “Name,” Town – i.e., fill in the blank. It was the custom in England in the late Middle Ages to put on these plays as part of fundraising efforts by parishes or towns, who would send out “criers” with fife and drum to go around to the neighbouring villages and advertise. The last stanza of the banns says: “On Sunday next, if that we may/At 6 of the bell we begin our play/ In N‑Town” – so you could say, “…we begin our play at St Thomas’s.” The texts of the N‑Town Plays were modernized for performance by the PLS.
Which selections are being presented this year?
Dr. Johnston: We are performing the sequence from the Nativity to the Adoration of the Magi. The sequence begins with the popular legend of the Cherry Tree. On the way to Bethlehem, Mary asks Joseph to pick her some cherries. He tries but they are too high, and he says, rather crossly:
Your desire to fulfil I shall attempt surely
Oh, to pluck you these cherries is a work wild
For the tree is so high it will not be easy,
Therefore let him pluck the cherries who got you with child!
The tree then bows down, and Mary is able to help herself.
What in particular strikes you and the actors as you work on the lines?
Kimberley Radmacher: The texts are full of alliteration. All of the characters use it, and audience members should certainly listen for it. Herod’s lines become almost tongue twisters. They are great fun. Also of note are the constant pastoral references. The blooming cherry tree is a literalization of the motif, but it continues throughout the plays. Indeed, we took this year’s title, “Go We Hence to Bethlehem’s Bower,” from a line in the Shepherds’ play. If audience members listen closely, they will certainly note that all the plays make reference to floral themes.
Who took part in the plays in the Middle Ages, and how is the PLS/St. Thomas’s collaboration similar or different?
Kimberley: What has struck me during previous co-productions was how our practice of casting some experienced, trained actors along with St Thomas’s parishioners in many ways echoes medieval performance practices. It was common practice to engage local people to take on the smaller roles. Of course, St. Thomas’s has some very good amateur actors who are taking on lead roles this year!
Dr. Johnston: The combination of experienced (and in the Middle Ages often professional) players taking the big parts, with amateurs from parish or craft guilds to take the smaller parts, is reflected both in the surviving records of payment and in the way the parts are written.
What has the experience of these co-productions been like for parishioners?
Fr. Mitchell: One parishioner who acted in the Lenten play this year told me that he immediately signed up to audition for the Christmas play because the experience was one of the most enjoyable of his life! Others have remarked on how their involvement has been an important part of their spiritual journey – that becoming familiar with the texts has deepened their spiritual awareness. To echo what Kim said, it strikes me that some of the 15th-century actors were not unlike many of us – regular churchgoers with little acting experience who desired to make a contribution to the common life of the parish. It has also been a bonding experience for us. New friendships have formed as we (especially the untrained actors among us) have struggled together to learn lines and come out of our shells in order to present a convincing performance.
I understand that one of the plays features midwives.
Kimberley: Yes, there are two bawdy midwives who, being worldly and experienced, understandably doubt Mary’s claims of chastity. They take it upon themselves to examine Mary, to comic effect of course. This part of the play may strike some of today’s playgoers as irreverent and unseemly, but the story of Salome the doubting midwife (not the woman who asked for John the Baptist’s head) was a well-known apocryphal one, and was part of the lore surrounding the Nativity story.
Dr. Johnston: The legend of the unbelieving midwife is a medieval commonplace – the same episode appears in the Chester Cycle version of the Nativity. It comes from the “common sense” approach to the miraculous story. In the York Cycle, Joseph “knows” that a child cannot be conceived without physical intercourse and so he believes himself to be cuckolded. In this legend, one of the two midwives Joseph summons “knows” a woman cannot have borne a child and still be a virgin. In both cases, angels intervene to reassure the non-believer of the miraculous power of God.
How are Joseph and Mary portrayed?
Kimberley: Joseph appears suspicious and frustrated. This is a fairly sophisticated literary device that is common among the biblical pageants. The cuckolded old man married to a beautiful younger wife was typically humorous to the medieval world, and the writer here plays with this cliché. Of course the audience knows the truth, so Joseph’s frustration is humorous yet nuanced. I think an audience can identify with Joseph’s conundrum: it is difficult for him to maintain his faith, and yet he does. Audiences will also find that the N‑Town Mary can be a little cheeky. This has probably been the most surprising discovery for us. Listen for some of Mary’s retorts. She is pious, but no waif.
Tell us a bit about planning the music for this production.
Kimberley: Working with Bryan Martin has been great fun. Bryan is also, of course, a musicologist, and his expertise has been helpful in a dramaturgical sense. For this production, I wanted the music to have as big a role as the plays themselves.
How much is and is not known about the music performed during the N‑Town Plays?
Bryan Martin: In general, very little is known about music in any of the English cycles. A few have a small amount of music included. The Shepherds’ play in N‑Town actually has the shepherds sing a specific Latin song (a plague song addressed to the Virgin), although no music is given. Fortunately, there are many surviving examples to choose from. And the angel always sings “Gloria in excelsis Deo” – it’s not too hard to find a suitable version of that.
How did you go about choosing the choral and instrumental music?
Bryan: I like to start by placing the production in a specific historical and cultural context. First, the N‑Town manuscript was probably compiled between 1460 and 1475. Second, since St. Thomas’s has close ties with the university community, I decided that our 15th-century audience and performers would be an educated group, so there will be a lot of Latin sung. The vocal music is taken from two mid-15th-century manuscripts, one with liturgical music, and one with liturgical music and carols. There are no significant English sources of instrumental music from that period, so I am borrowing some German music that is based on 15th-century English models. Third, since the plays are being performed indoors rather than outdoors on carts, the instruments will be mostly “bas,” or soft: recorders, flutes, fiddles, lutes, etc. We decided that the music will be tightly integrated into the action, especially in the Kings’ play. A lot of this will be done with instrumental music, but there are also moments when vocal music will be used, especially in scenes centred on the Nativity. And, of course, there will be a rollicking carol for the entire cast to sing at the end.
You also mentioned a song to complement the theme of the “Cherry Tree.” Tell us about that.
Bryan: There are several “Cherry Tree” carols that may actually descend from the episode in the first play where Mary asks Joseph to get her cherries from the tree, and which are miraculously given to her when he refuses. Unfortunately, neither the music nor the texts for the “Cherry Tree” carols which have come down to us are particularly medieval in character. We will be using a contemporary carol on a related theme.
The other important aspect is costuming. Please describe your work on preparing the garments.
Linda Phillips: This show is the latest in a long line of medieval Christmas pageants that I have costumed, and I have a large stock of appropriate garments for the main characters. There are many iconic images of the Nativity that have shaped our expectations of how they should look: Mary almost always wears a specific shade of blue, Joseph is an old man, Herod wears rich, exotic robes, and so on. I approached this play the same way I do all shows: first, I read the script carefully, looking for any clues about costuming details. For example, Herod mentions that he is wearing a “girdle of cammaka,” which means a sash or belt made of silk damask. Also, Mary must be wearing something that will enable the midwives to examine her discreetly, so I have given her a cloak. Once I knew who was cast in each role, I began to decide which costumes might work best and how they would look together onstage. Then I brought the actors in for fittings and tried the garments on them. I strive for a balance between the actors’ comfort, the requirements for the character, and the overall stage picture.
Julia Armstrong
For more about the cast and crew, visit
https://pls.artsci.utoronto.ca/2012-2013-season/bethlehems-bower/cast-crew/
To read the full texts of the plays:
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ajohnsto/frntmt.html
