Appropriate Gestures : Two Medieval Illustrations of Classical Theatre.

Abstract

This article uses two important manuscript illustrations to contrast fourteenth-century ideas about the performance of classical tragedy, which were based on rather inaccurate antiquarian reconstruction, with those for the comedies of Terence, which had enjoyed a continuing tradition of performance. The article shows how the move from the semi-circular classical theatre to performance in a medieval hall gradually changed performance conventions and led to a style of acting in which masks were discarded and lead gestures were made with the upstage hand (rather than always with the right hand, as was done in the Roman theatre).