Memory and Performance: Classical Reception in Early Modern Festivals (15th-18th century) (February 2023)
On 20-23 February 2023, in St George’s Church Bloomsbury, Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2SA, a group of 18 students – 7 from 4 state-funded secondary schools in London (from St Olave’s, the Jewish Community Secondary School, Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, and La Sainte Union, Camden); 5 BA students from the University of Parma; 2 BA and 3 Master’s students from UCL, and 1 PhD student from UPenn – participated in a four-day theatre workshop led by Italian playwright and director Marco Martinelli (Teatro delle Albe) and by academic and dramaturg Giovanna Di Martino (UCL) on Aristophanes’ Wealth in three early modern translations of the play: Eufrosino Bonini’s 1513 Commedia di Justitia; Thomas Randolph’s 1651 Hey for honesty, down with knavery; and H. H. B. (H. H. Burnell?)’s 1659 The World’s Idol, Plutus a comedy.
A demonstration-performance showing the results of the theatre workshops took place in the church as part of the conference Memory and Performance: Classical Reception in Early Modern Festivals, co-organised by Francesca Bortoletti (Parma) and Giovanna Di Martino, at 6-7pm on 23 February – audience members were academics, university and school students as well as the students’ parents. The workshop was funded by UCL’s Widening Participation Programme, the Widening International Didactics and Education Programme (w.i.d.e; 2022, Parma), the Classical Association, the ICS, the Gilbert Trust Fund, UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, and the Leventis Foundation.
The workshop also comprised two ‘reflect/feedback’ moments (2-4pm, 21 February & 4-5.30, 22 February), where Giovanna Di Martino led a feedback discussion about the ancient as well as early modern scripts integrated in the workshop, their historical context and political as well as dramaturgical grip. Students were eager to contribute to the discussion and ask questions, which made these two moments lively and successful.
Overall, the workshop was a success: the theatrical approach to the texts used as well as the feedback sessions on the historical contexts of these scripts successfully brought to the fore the incredible performability of these scripts and the timeliness of some of the issues emphasised particularly in World’s Idol, a reading of Wealth that heavily criticises British and Spanish colonialism while also arguing against the use of religion as a weapon.
