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196 Reviews Lindsay as his example. The collection is then concluded by a review of the essays by Michael Uebel, 'On Becoming-male' which with the introduction provides another reading of masculinities and the ways that theories of gender can be applied to the different texts and sources from the medieval period. Overall this is a well produced volume that gives satisfyingly varied views of recent research on this interesting topic. There are some very detailed examinations of postmodern and gender theory in some of these essays, while others concentrate on close analysis of sources to provide insights into their chosen topic. While some of the essays would be appropriate for beginning level university students in general medieval history or literature courses, most of these essays are for the specialist or advanced student w h o wishes to either extend their readings of specific texts or to provide detailed context for studies of gender in medieval societies. Dianne Hall History Department University ofMelbourne Davidson, Clifford, ed., Material Culture in Medieval Drama (Early Drama, Art, and Music Monograph Series 25), Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University, Medieval Institute Publications, 1999; paper; pp. xv, 205; 60 b / w illustrations; R.R.P. US$12.95; ISBN 1580440215. Responding to the current vogue for Cultural Studies, this volume of essays by scholars of medieval drama examines the material remains of ephemeral performance. In 'Material Culture, Writing, and Early Drama', Clifford Davidson surveys the parchment and paper manuscript codices that contain the texts of late medieval drama, together with their production and purpose. Dunbar H. Ogden, in 'Costumes and Vestments for the Medieval Music Drama', provides a gloss in words and images on the various garments mentioned in a selection of financial records and in a wide range of Latin and vernacular play texts. In 'The Providers of Pyrotechnics in Plays and Celebrations', Philip Butterworth provides transcriptions and important interpretations of financial accounts for Reviews 197 fireworks, telling us what kinds of fireworks we,re produced by each ingredient listed, and importantly, showing that the technology is far older than the major modern authorities on the history of fireworks have led us to understand. The notebook compiled by the Provencal director of a Passion play (Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale M S X.29), transcribed and discussed by Alessandro Vitale-Brovarone in 1983 and 1984, is re-examined by Veronique Plesch in a richly documented essay, 'Notes for the Staging of a Late Medieval Passion Play'. Although disastrously damaged by fire in 1904, the manuscripts yields a wealth of information about the staging tricks of a Passion play: from the blood-soaked sponge in Malchus's hand as he strikes Jesus to the giblets that are ripped from Judas's belly. Plesch also relates these devices to scenes in a range of North Italian Passion frescoes. In 'Makers of Heaven on Earth: The Construction of Early Drama in Cornwall', Gloria J . Bletcher re-examines the relationship between the surviving accounts of Cornish drama and the play texts and, finding none, calls for greater caution in the use of documentary evidence and a shift in the interpretive focus of our analysis of Cornish religious drama. Jesse D. Hurlbut, in 'The Sound of Civic Spectacle: Noise in Burgundian Ceremonial Entries', looks not only at sound (the pealing of bells, cannonades, trumpets, speeches, shouts of 'Noel' and so on), but also at silences, enforced by the city in the interests of good order, and imposed on the visitor as silent protagonist of the spectacle. A n d in the last essay of the volume, 'Musical Instruments in Early English Drama', Mary Remnant sketches the history and the appearance of the instruments that are mentioned in medieval drama. Like Ogden's essay on costume, this essay adds substance to familiar words, and depth to the non-specialist's understanding of the terms mentioned. More than ever, the study of records is regarded as the indispensable prerequisite for the study of play texts, and not all the records studied lead to n e w reconstructions of medieval performance modes. Nevertheless, the breadth of the volume will ensure a wide readership. Nerida Newbigin Department ofItalian University of Sydney ...

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