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Noah’s Flood, the River Jordan, the Red Sea: Staging in the Towneley Cycle Cynthia Haldenby Tyson Four plays of the Towneley Cycle present intriguing refer­ ences to water as a staging property. These plays are III. Processus Noe cum filiis, V. lacob, VIII. Pharao, and XIX. lohannes baptista in which are represented Noah’s flood, the River Jordan, the Red Sea, and, again, the River Jordan, re­ spectively. The obvious issue is, of course, the method by which water as a staging requirement was presented. Hardin Craig has drawn attention to the entry in the accounts of the Coventry Cappers’ Company which reads: “It. p’d for halfe a yard of rede sea vjd.”l If the Red Sea could be represented in such a manner by a piece of cloth, so presumably could any other stretch of water. And M. D. Anderson notes that a nave boss in Norwich Cathedral presents an Ark seeming to float on water which looks more like painted cloth than formalized rip­ ples used to represent actual water. She suggests that cloth was possibly draped over the wheels which supported the moving Ark, to hide them and at the same time to pretend the rippling movement of water.2 However, there are many references to painted cloth used in connection with processional production or in any production using a raised waggon in which the cloth was hung around the sides of the cart to hide the wheels. Draped cloth, then, is not necessarily associated with water. Nor is it al­ ways valid to assume that when water was required, draped cloth was the only means of representing it. This paper proposes that such an assumption may not accurately be made within the con­ text of Towneley production and that a much greater likelihood exists that real water was present in the acting area to serve as a staging property. 101 102 Cynthia Haldenby Tyson An examination of the Towneley Noah Play reveals that in terms of staging plan two main centers of action or loca are required.3 These are the Ark itself and the hill on which Uxor sits spinning. The relationship between Ark and hill is significant. Martial Rose comments: It is extremely doubtful whether Noah’s wife would persistently refer to her position as “upon this hill” if the three-storeyed Ark were towering above her. . . A It certainly is doubtful. Uxor’s hill is indeed “a hill,” a raised locus comparable to the tithing hill of Mactacio abel. If the Ark is built at platea level, any actor within the Ark also as­ sumes an elevated position, comparable to the elevated position of Uxor on the hill. Such a staging plan accounts for the con­ venience of conversation between Noah and his children on the Ark and Uxor spinning on the hill. The conversations between Ark and hill, of course, are con­ cerned with the coming flood, with Noah’s urgent pleas for Uxor to join the company in the Ark, and with Uxor’s refusal as she steadfastly continues to spin. The character of Uxor her­ self is important in an assessment of what takes place at this point in the play. Her refusal to join the family is firm and un­ wavering. She sits on her hill to spin and no amount of persua­ sion convinces her of the necessity of entering the Ark. She will listen to no argument. Certainly it would conflict with the selfwilled character presented in the play if she did comply only to please her family. But Uxor is convinced, and only by the rising flood: Into ship with byr therfor will I hy For drede that I drone here.5 (371-72) With these words Uxor rushes from hill to Ark. It has taken an external force to convince her, and this force is water. The difficulty of realistically presenting this scene, enormous as it might be, seems certainly to have been overcome if not only the character of Uxor but also her words are to be believed. Uxor clearly indicates that water begins to surround her on the hill. Like Thomas of the New Testament, she has doubted the word...

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