Call for Papers:
Love, Sex and Romance in Early Drama

26 April 2014, University of Toronto

(A PDF version of this announcement is available here.)

From 24 to 27 April 2014 Poculi Ludique Societas is putting on a production of Lancelot of Denmark and Of Winter and Summer. These two so-called abele spelen, together with the other abele spelen Gloriant and Esmoreit, are the oldest surviving secular plays from the Low Countries, preserved in the Van Hulthem manuscript (c.1410). Of Winter and Summer is also the oldest known allegorical Dutch play and an early example of the debate play. Both Lancelot of Denmark and Of Winter and Summer are concerned with love and sex; the former is also one of the very few surviving romance plays of medieval Europe, a seemingly popular genre well into the early modern period.

This one-day symposium aims to explore both the idealised and realistic portrayal of love and sex on the medieval and early modern stage as well as the relationship between drama and romances, both in the Low Countries and beyond.

Potential topics include:

• representations of love and/or sex on stage
• how to stage the act of sex
• romance plays
• the connections between medieval romances and plays (e.g. in manuscript context)
• the role of dramatic festivities at wedding celebrations
• connections between medieval debates dealing with love and plays

Please send a 400 word abstract to Lsrearlydrama@outlook.com by 15 March 2014.