Approaches to Teaching Medieval English Drama (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780873525312)

Anyone who has recently attended a professional meeting devoted to medieval drama or witnessed a revival of a medieval play knows that the genre is alive and flourishing. This volume offers help for new teachers of these works, encourages experienced teachers to rethink classroom presentation of familiar plays, and suggests new ways for all teachers to integrate medieval drama into undergraduate courses.

Like other books in the Approaches series, this one is divided into two parts. The first part, "Materials," reviews editions, translations, and anthologies of medieval drama and discusses useful secondary readings for both students and instructors. In the second part, "Approaches," seventeen essays present a rich array of ideas for teaching medieval English drama, from the liturgical texts of the tenth century to the morality plays and cycle plays of the fifteenth century. Several authors focus on particular classroom strategies; others apply methodologies informed by theoretical approaches such as feminism, semiotics, and anthropology; still others discuss staging and performance of the plays.