Gutierrez Dissertation

Copyright by Christina Lynn Gutierrez 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Christina Lynn Gutierrez certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Staging Medievalisms: Touching the Middle Ages through Contemporary Performance Committee: Charlotte Canning, Supervisor Daniel Birkholz Omi Osun (Joni L. Jones) Deborah Paredez Paul Bonin-Rodriguez Staging Medievalisms: Touching the Middle Ages through Contemporary Performance by Christina Lynn Gutierrez, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Dedication To those who imagine the medieval, and to those who create it. Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the assistance of a number of talented and generous individuals to whom I owe thanks. First, I’d like to thank my advisor, Dr. Charlotte Canning for her invaluable advice and guidance throughout the dissertation process as well as over the course of my graduate studies. Her enthusiasm for the project and continual curiosity about the Middle Ages helped me through a number of difficult moments. Next, I would like to acknowledge the continual support and assistance of Dr. Daniel Birkholz. Dr. Birkholz has been a mentor and source of inspiration from the beginning of my work on the dissertation, and it was his “Fictions of Medievalism” class that turned on the lightbulb which ultimately led to this project. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Paul Bonin Rodriguez, Dr. Deborah Paredez, and Dr. Joni Jones (Omi Osun), for their time and wisdom. Their methodologies have greatly shaped the scholar I have become. I also owe thanks to a number of theatres and archives. In particular, the archivists at England’s National Theatre and Helen Hargest of the Royal Shakespeare Company were very generous in their time and assistance. I would also like to thank the staff of the Billy Rose Collection of the New York Public Library for allowing me access to archival Broadway footage. Thanks are also due to the numerous patrons who allowed me to interview them at Disneyland, Medieval Times, and the Renaissance Faire, who let a stranger ask them questions about the Middle Ages. Also in this group are Alicia Atkinson and Kelly Milbourn, both of whom housed me on research trips to California and accompanied me in the field (although I suppose that Disneyland and the Renaissance Faire are not exactly hard sells). A special thanks here to Lizzy Craze, one of my oldest and closest friends and loudest supporters, even from half a country away. My v research trips were often reunions for the two of us, and for years she’s put up with analysis of performance and medievalism in casual conversation. Closer to home, thanks go to Robert Faires, who was incredibly generous with his time and wisdom in discussions of his one-man Henry V. I was incredibly fortunate during this process to have had the support and help of my writing partner, Dr. Eleanor Owicki. In addition to our formal meetings about each other’s work, countless meals and trips to the theatre were punctuated with talk of both my dissertation and hers. She has helped me to clarify and refine my thinking, pushing me toward better writing while always remaining supportive and excited about the work. I owe the same thanks to my mother, Lynn Craft, who endured countless phone calls that wove in-depth discussion of the Middle Ages with more personal matters. She has cheered me on throughout my academic career, and reminded me even in the most frustrating of moments that what we do matters. This process has been proof that support and assistance do not come from academics alone. As a director, I rely on my practice to inform my scholarship. I have been blessed in Austin with a network of amazing friends, many of whom are also theatre practitioners, who have encouraged my work. Among them, David Boss has remained a constant. Also included in this list is Travis Bedard, whose sage advice has pushed me to grow as both an academic and a director. This list would be remiss without mention of Aaron Black, co-founder with me of the 7 Towers Theatre Company, and one of my strongest inspirations as an artist. I owe my greatest thanks to these folks, and to the work that we’ve created. vi Staging Medievalisms: Touching the Middle Ages through Contemporary Performance Christina Lynn Gutierrez, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Charlotte Canning Staging Medievalisms analyzes how twentieth- and twenty-first century performance constructs the Middle Ages. This work is in conversation with medievalism, the academic field concerned with the diverse ways post-medieval societies have re- imagined medieval narratives and tropes, often in service of their own values. As a result of centuries worth of re-definition, the term “medieval” is unstable, referring simultaneously to a fairytale prehistory and a dark age of oppression. I argue that performance, both in theatrical productions and in medieval-focused tourist spaces, allows an affective connection between the medieval past and the present, casting the Middle Ages as an inherently flexible backdrop for contemporary political and social concerns. In tourist spaces and plays about the Middle Ages, the performing body becomes the site where the medieval and the modern touch. I conduct close readings of six productions and three public spaces which stage the Middle Ages, examining which particular versions of the medieval they create, how they stage moments of historiographical contact, and how each uses the medieval to imagine their own historical contexts. Chapter one provides an overview of medievalism and its connection to performance studies, and subsequent chapters take up contemporary productions of vii medieval history, legend, and fantasy, respectively. Chapter two examines three recent stagings of Shakespeare’s medieval history play Henry V, a work which stages two opposing versions of the medieval simultaneously. The Royal Shakespeare Company (1994), National Theatre (2003), and Austin, Texas (2009) productions offer commentary on modern warfare, using Henry’s medieval battles as both evidence and setting. Chapter three analyses representations of the Holy Grail in Mort d’Arthur (2010), Spamalot (2005), and Proof (2001). Each re-imagines the Grail as a symbol of achievement and power, drawing different conclusions about contemporary society’s need for the mystical. Chapter four takes up performances of the Middle Ages in the public sphere, examining how Disneyland, Medieval Times, and the Renaissance Faire offer visitors varying degrees of freedom to experience the medieval through their own bodies. Throughout, I argue that performance encourages affective connections to the medieval past as a reflection of contemporary desires. viii Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: “We Are Seeing What We’ve Seen Before:” Introducing Affective Medievalism and Performance.................................................................................... 1 Introducing Medievalism ................................................................................7 Defining a Field: Performance meets Medievalism ......................................14 Performance in the Middle Ages: New Perspectives ....................................21 Methodology: Defining Affective Medievalism in Performance ..................24 Chapter Outline .............................................................................................33 CHAPTER 2: “A small room containing mighty men:” Staging Medieval History in Shakespeare’s Henry V .............................................................................................36 Henry’s Plural Middle Ages.......................................................................... 41 Henry’s Middle Ages out of Time at the RSC ..............................................48 Shakespeare’s Medieval Renaissance at the National Theatre ......................58 Metatheatrically Affective Medievalism in the Austin, Texas Henry V ........69 Conclusion: Henry as a Hyper Medievalist ..................................................79 CHAPTER 3: “To Search for an Impossible Dream:” Staging Medieval Legend and the Contemporary Holy Grail .........................................................................................84 The RSC’s Morte d’Arthur: Manipulating Theatricality ..............................91 Spamalot: Staging a Personalized Grail in Disrupted Time ........................100 Proof: Finding the Grail in the Twenty-First Century Academy .................111 Conclusion: Singular Arthur, Plural Grail................................................... 121 CHAPTER 4: “We Gladly Accept Master Card and Lady Visa:” Staging Medieval Fantasy in Tourist Attractions .................................................................................127 Tourism/ Touring the Middle Ages ................................................................130 Medieval Times’ Performance of Spectacle and Spectatorship ..................134 A Medieval/Renaissance Conversation at the Faire ....................................144 Fantasyland’s Medieval out of Time ...........................................................151 Medievalist Plurality in the Public Sphere ..................................................161 ix Conclusion: Curiously Haunted Spaces.....................................................

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