Chester 2010: The Creation and Fall of Man

The symposium included sessions on topics such as ‘The Audience’ and ‘The City’, which reminded us once again of the many different identities, cultural traditions and practices in medieval and early modern Chester, offering lots of new perspectives on the city. In our own ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ session, sponsored by the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, we gave an overview of our project research and some ‘case studies’ of ways in which it might be valuable for scholars working on the Chester plays. For example, Mark Faulkner examined Lucian’s understanding of symbolic space within the city, while Catherine Clarke discussed the cross-cultural exchanges – and tensions – between Welsh and English communities in Chester, as reflected in the medieval literature.

The complete performance of the Chester Whitsun Cycle – on wagons, over three stations – was extremely exciting. A new text, incorporating Goodman’s list of ‘absurdities’, had been edited by Alexandra Johnston. Each pageant was produced by a different North American university, meaning that we had a wide range of different interpretations – from the serious to the comic, the more naturalistic to the highly stylised and liturgical.

Chester 2010 was a wonderful event, and the ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ team are very grateful to the University of Toronto for their hospitality and interest in our work. A volume is forthcoming, to which Mark and Catherine hope to contribute.

Chester 2010: The Last Judgement

The Chester 2010 symposium will offer some unique new perspectives on place and identity in Chester. As well as presentations from a wide range of scholars, the symposium includes a staging of the complete Chester cycle, with each pageant produced and performed by a group from a different North American university or college. We hope to bring back lots of new ideas about the interactions between the plays, their physical environment, and their audiences in the late-medieval / early modern city.