Visible Words: The York Plays, Brecht, and Gestic Writing

1 COMPARATIVE ? ama Volume 24Winter 1990-91Number 4 Visible Words: The York Plays, Brecht, and Gestic Writing Garrett P. J. Epp In a recent essay on "Medieval Acting," John R. Elliot, Jr., presents a variety of eyewitness testimonies and generally opposing modern critical opinions concerning the craft of medieval actors. This body of evidence leads him to conclude that we as modem critics have, perhaps, been misled by some of the apparently Brechtian elements in medieval playscripts into thinking that the ultimate effect of medieval plays upon their audiences was fundamentally different from that of great plays at any time. If that is so, then we should possibly throw away the notion that the goals of medieval acting were necessarily different in kind, or more limited, than those of other periods, and get on with the study of how these goals were taught, executed, and appreciated by their audiences. 1 However, Elliot does not deal with any of these "apparently Brechtian elements" in the rest of the essay, apart from a reference in the same final paragraph to Brecht's famous doctrine of Verfremdung, or "estrangement," and a footnote to an article by Martin Stevens that deals in part with possible applications GARRETT P. J. EPP is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and is currently working on medieval Platonism and the York plays. 289 290Comparative Drama of this doctrine to medieval drama.2 Yet neither the work of Brecht nor the study of medieval acting can be reduced to a single issue such as this: the doctrine of Verfremdung itself is concerned with more than the emotional distancing of the audience upon which both Elliot and Stevens focus;3 without the appropriate style both of acting and of script, an appropriate audience response is impossible to achieve. Brecht once claimed that "Marx was the only spectator for my plays Fd ever come across,"4 yet the apparent lack of an appropriate audience did not discourage him from creating playtexts that both presumed and encouraged specific dramatic effects—and a presentational non-empathic acting style that was indeed "different in kind" although certainly not "more limited" than what most of his contemporaries expected. The technique of writing which he used to this end was a distinctly modern variety of what is generally termed "gestic writing"—a technique employed by a number of early English playwrights, including the anonymous creators of York's medieval cycle of biblical plays. "Gestic writing" denotes any attempt by a playwright to direct or control the action onstage through dialogue. For instance, much of the language given the characters of medieval plays is highly demonstrative and deictic, directing attention to significant onstage objects, persons, or events and defining necessary gestures and movements. Characters announce to one another and to the audience what they or others have done, are doing, or are about to do—what David Mills has termed the "Behold and See" convention in medieval drama.5 Citing a typical stanza from the York Crucifixion pageant (XXXV. 13344 ),6 Mills points out that the language of this passage, as of much of the cycle, draws attention to and defines the stage action, especially through the liberal use of demonstrative adverbs (that, this) and of imperative and present-tense verb forms. As the four soldiers fasten Jesus to the cross, they say such things as "I>at corde full kyndely can I knytte," "Feste on banne faste," "Lugge on 3e both a litill ¡ritt," and "dryue in bat nayle." To quote Mills: the words could readily serve, as it were, as a set of stage-directions for the actors, as cues for starting and completing operations. Much of its function is to draw attention to the visible objects and the working context. . . . The verbs similarly draw attention to the activities of the participants. ... It is, again, a language of display.7 Garrett P. J. Epp291 My point here is that the words not only could, but do serve as stage directions, drawing attention to the stage action for the benefit both of the audience, as Mills goes on to emphasize, and of the actors, which helps ensure that the playwrights' gestic intentions...