The Interlude Of The Student And The Girl
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''The Interlude of the Student and the Girl'' () is one of the earliest known
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
plays in English, first performed . The text is written in
vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
English, in an East Midlands
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that suggests either Lincoln or Beverley as its origin, although its title is given in
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.Wickham (1976, 193). The name of its playwright is unknown. Only two scenes, with a total of 84 lines of verse in rhyming couplets, are
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and survive in a manuscript held by the
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, dated to either the late twelfth or very early thirteenth century. Glynne Wickham provides both the original text and a rendering in modern English in his ''English Moral Interludes'' (1976).Wickham (1976, 195–203). E. K. Chambers also provided the text in his ''The Mediaeval Stage'' (1903, vol. 2, 324–326), though Wickham points out that in that book the scenes have been inaccurately transcribed; see Wickham (1979, 198). Chamber's book is . In tone and form, the interlude seems to be the closest play in English to the contemporaneous French
farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...
s, such as '' The Boy and the Blind Man'', and is related to later English farcical plays, such as the
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''Calisto and Melibea'' (published c. 1525) and John Heywood's '' The Foure PP'' (c. 1530). It was most likely performed by itinerant players, possibly making use of a performing dog. In ''Early English Stages'' (1981), Wickham points to the existence of this play as evidence that the old-fashioned view that
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
began in England with '' Gammer Gurton's Needle'' and '' Ralph Roister Doister'' in the 1550s is mistaken, ignoring as it does a rich tradition of medieval comic drama. He argues that the play's "command of dramatic action and of comic mood and method is so deft as to make it well-nigh unbelievable" that it was the first of its kind in England.


Synopsis

A student tries to woo a girl called Molly. Having confirmed that neither her father nor mother are at home, he declares his love for her: "I love you more than my life", he insists. She rejects him, complaining of the deceitfulness of students: "For many a good woman have they brought to shame!""Clerc of scole ne kep I none, / For many god wymman haf þai don scam" (lines 28–29); see Wickham (1976, 200–201). The original text makes use of the thorn letter. He seeks the help of an old woman, Mother Eloise. He laments that he would rather die than live without Molly. He offers the old woman substantial financial rewards if she would agree to act as his go-between and reconcile him with the girl. The old woman becomes defensive and insists that whoever advised him to seek out her assistance has lied, for she is a God-fearing woman who would never involve herself in such matters.


See also

* Medieval theatre


Notes


Sources

* Axton, Richard, ed. 1979. ''Three Rastell Plays.'' Tudor Interludes ser. Cambridge: Brewer. . * Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Bevington, David M. 1962. ''From ''Mankind'' to Marlowe: Growth of Structure in the Popular Drama of Tudor England.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. * Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. 2003. ''History of the Theatre''. Ninth edition, International edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. . * Chambers, E. K. 1903. ''The Mediaeval Stage.'' Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . * Dillon, Janette. 2006. ''The Cambridge Introduction to Early English Theatre.'' Cambridge Introductions to Literature ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Meredith, Peter. 1998. "Medieval Drama in Europe: England, Scotland and Ireland; Cornwall and Wales." In Banham (1998, 698–700). * Richardson, Christine, and Jackie Johnston. 1991. ''Medieval Drama.'' English Dramatists ser. London: Macmillan. . * Wickham, Glynne, ed. 1976. ''English Moral Interludes.'' London: Dent. . * Wickham, Glynne. 1981. ''Early English Stages: 1300—1660.'' Vol. 3. London: Routledge. .


External links

* E. K. Chambers's , which contains a slightly inaccurate transcription of the text. {{DEFAULTSORT:Interlude of the Student and the Girl, The Folk plays Medieval drama 14th-century plays English plays